Il diario di Jack

Stress and Success: I believe that "Man About Town" gets to the soul of work-life balance in a surprising way. A head review on IMDb compares it to American Beauty -- I think this makes it too heavy and the themes too weighty -- it is Jersey Girl with grown-ups - has farce, charm, and truly poignant scenes, as well as a man who as his life goes down the toilet makes his soul play and work for him.

Is it about the material waste vs. romance? : well, no not really; a modern parable of values; a little; an Italian drama with American values played out like a french comedy romance: definitely.

There is a strong cast: A pythonesque cameo breaks up the story into segments. Howard Hesseman as the father is a better role than expected: and he delivers a class performance. A face I hadn't noticed before, Damien Wayans, (well according to IMDb his previous credits include "cousin carrying plastic bag" in Don't be a Menace to South Central while Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, 'nuff said...) here he handles the foil of Ben Affleck's necessarily flack-like performance with real aplomb as the put-upon PA. He has behind the fluff a serious look that would lend well to comedy and/or drama. Bet we'll see more of him.

The treatment lends to being real handled with verve and vigor: covering the gamut from farce to bathos - and for my money hit a surprising number of home runs. Ben Affleck - a man driven to the point of desperation, and reconnection gives a deceptively light performance: I would have to say they are some awesome skills going into this - sometime he makes it look too easy, too, what's the word, smiley ?, but it is nicely played. It is his most mature role to date and he handles this tale of a man discovering his true values and maturity with a measured casualness.

On filming: I found the approach to filming itself more complex than I expected the lighting and sound are both clever and discrete; and it is well lit. Obviously style and architecture and the LA dream are nicely displayed: great design. The office really looks right, down to the door handles.

The editing makes good sense and keeps the pace in a natural story that jumps pace and genre : and there are some shots with lifts that are unique (!) and worth checking out for that reason alone.

It is funny particularly good on the visual jokes, but not overly crude, but It also moved me to tears four times - no mean feat - and my wife even more.

Mike Binder, who both wrote and directed this, is getting really close to having a real hit - I sense a director ready to take on a big star, and big themes and fly with them.

Overall, I enjoyed this tremendously and would say: more like it please. It is kind of familiar territory and many critics will point to it as too mixed up to be clear: but I would argue that the theme of redemption is clearer than the lax comic relief that occasionally surfaces -- and the silliness is light relief and flows out of the plot.

This film about a film executive who caught the success train early and now feels the baggage carriage rocketing up fast could itself be difficult to categorize as comedy romance drama etc; and that may be a weakness in marketing, but it is a strength in the telling: I found it a very rounded experience. Who wouldn't want to find films that touch the soul and here we have.

Worth the rental (And a release - This should be a release with real marketing values - right?) -- yup and how.

I liked the movie. Ben was funny and Rebecca Romijn lovely and attractive. The characters they portrayed were real and convincing. But the movie contained more drama than comedy. A few times I laughed, but overall this movie had a serious message about how to cope with people's imperfection (and your own). Psychological themed movies often are presented as a comedy. Hence the casting of John Cleese, the neurotic eminently. The movie is a nice distraction, and some people may learn from it.

Sometimes the business world makes your love frozen. In a society where the prestige and the money seems to be more important than relationships, "trust" becomes just another word of the dictionary. Stress takes the control of your life; and without warning you stop living, to start acting in automatic pilot. And that is the case of Jack Giamoro (Ben Affleck) a well recognized and very successful executive in the Hollywood industry; who in his routine tries to find safety in isolating himself. His ammo ironically turns into his wickedness when everything starts falling apart, and he decides to write his personal diary. His life, his pain, his loneliness and secrets in paper, put him in danger when someone steals his written memories. A good romantic comedy, with the excellent performance of John "the actor" Cleese and the always beautiful Rebecca Romijn. It makes you laugh, it makes you fall in love, it makes you stop and look around. What's important in life? I say: A great choice for a date.

Extremely self centered, uncomunicative movie agent (Ben Affleck) has it all, but then is on the verge of loosing it all; his job, his wife, his reputation and his health. Will Ben Affleck be able to rebound and become succesful again? That's the cliffhanger of this somewhat satirical story.

Certainly not one of Ben Affleck greatest pictures, but for the real Ben Affleck fan, this story can still be quite enjoyable, because there are lots of quirky, subtle, satirical jokes about egoism to be enjoyed. So the satirical jokes are fortunately quite good, but this movie wants to be a lighthearted romantic drama as well and that part isnt as well developped as it could have been.

This movie looses speed half way through, and becomes a bit boring, but it does make for a rather pleasant feel good funny ending. So be a little patient in the middle, you will be rewarded later on, although dont expect any greatness either.

My expectations for this movie were pretty low. Ben Affleck's resume is very much hit and miss, with the misses being sometimes being of epic proportion. As well, I had seen two recent movies by director Mike Bender (Upside of Anger and Reign over Me) which certainly did not live up to praises and high ratings they received. It was thus with skepticism that I decided to kill time watching Man About Town, expecting a total dud. I was proved wrong.

Much like its successor Reign Over Me, the main character here is going through issues and everything is rather organic and poignantly directed, contrary to the usual remote third person view employed in "safer" Hollywood work. There are some light comedic moments here but what makes them work is how human and heartfelt the struggles are depicted. And while Ben Affleck will never be the second coming of a Ed Norton or Anthony Hopkins, here he gives a very honest and balanced performance and we cannot help but sympathize with this character caught in the artificial life of Los Angeles and talent agencies.

If anything, one plot tread about his book takes perhaps too much importance in what is otherwise a sober treatment of character and the issues he has to deal with in his personal and professional life. The entire cast is extremely good and was well chosen, although it does feel like they could have done more with John Cleese. One exception: I really felt Bai Ling was off in her performance.

Overall, this is a very enjoyable movie with a satisfying conclusion instead of the usual eye-rolling fest with the easy way out.