X's & O's

I had the chance to preview this movie earlier this year. Being labeled as a movie to entertain both sexes, I was a bit reluctant to watch it. I have been sucked into the romantic-dramady many times by being told it was made for all of us. SO, that being said, I was ready to be let down yet again. My final verdict….This was most definitely NOT a chick flick!!! The chemistry on screen between the actors was exceptional and the story was well thought out and lacked the usual bits of downtime. You know the type of movie that I'm referring to. Where you have 30 minutes of intense plot that leads up to 45 minutes of insane fumbling where the writers couldn't think of anything original to fill the time, Only to end in an unbelievable climax in the last 10 minutes of the film….This was not that movie! For once I was surprised at the twists and turns this plot took and the ending was up in the air until the final minute. I found myself relating to several of the characters and actually rooting for several of them in the end. I can't say if I have seen a more clever debut for a director,(The next Kevin Smith?!?). Low budget but High in quality!

For an indie film, X's & O's shatters the stereotype of the genre doing away with long drawn out expositions, pretentious dialogue, and contrived plot points. Shot on 35mm film, the movie captures a warmth and realness often lost on DV. From the opening shot, the movie moves quickly, introducing you to your primary characters and the various relationships that make up the core of the movie. Shot on location in San Francisco and the surrounding bay area, X's and O's explores the all-too-real difficulties of relationship dynamics, using the SF bay as a microcosm of the world. The characters who make up these relationships are so robust and three dimensional that you will find yourself identifying with at least one of them, and knowing friends who make up the rest of the cast. Eschewing Hollywood's formula of fate, chance meetings, destiny, the world conspiring against the lovebirds to live happily ever after, and the eventual happily ever after despite the world conspiracy, X's & O's looks at romance as the little things in the relationship, and the work you have to put into it to make it work. There is no sappy dialogue or overly dramatic emotional moments. There is conflict, self-contradictions, redemption, disappointments, growth, change, humor, self-realizations -- few of the many little things that are embodied in real relationships. X's & O's is a movie that doesn't disillusion you to fantasize about Hollywood's happily ever after. Instead, it suggests that though your relationship may not be the perfect Hollywood romance, if you are able to watch this movie and enjoy it with your significant other, that's your happily ever after.

I absolutely loved this movie. The characters are so real, I feel like I know someone just like the ones in this movie, every single one of them. I don't want to give way the ending but, I haven't seen a more realistic and matter of factish movie in this genre yet. It's hilarious, it has negative shades, twists and turns that you would not expect! I don't even know which "box" I should put this movie into. Is it comedy? romantic? drama? suspense? But isn't life just like that too? What box would you put your life into? Is your life a comedy? tragedy? suspense? drama?... Now you know what I am talking about. This movie is just as real as life can get! Very well made!

I was one of the few people who had the opportunity to watch a screening of this magnificent Romantic comedy called X's and O's and I can attest that it kept me entertained from the beginning to the end. Unlike most Romantic Comedies, X's and O's surpasses the stereotypical romance comedies that are shoved in our faces on a daily basis. This isn't a chick flick and it isn't a macho flick. X's and O's delivers something that most romantic comedies don't. It targets both sexes! So instead of being dragged to a chick flick like Sex In The City or to a macho flick such as Rambo, both male and female can sit down and enjoy a movie together that will not only entertain you but leave you with some good conversation afterward. You want the perfect movie to pop in the DVD player (in some cases Blu-Ray) and watch on your first date? X's and O's should be your first choice. Yes, X's and O's is a independent film however it's been directed, written, produced and edited as if it were a high budget film. Check out X's and O's if your willing to watch a good indie flick worthy to be called "Good"

First of all, this is a puzzling comedy, and I don't mean it in a bad way, on the contrary, it needs to be seen to be believed. Mr. Korde has made a romantic comedy set up in the real world, in which the camera could be anyone of us looking at our own environment.

But the movies also a local view of how much it sucks to date in San Francisco, California, considered one of the worst cities for dating and commitment in the U.S.

Yeah, it's not that easy to get "action" in an environment where everybody wants everything as soon as possible, and at the slightest mistake you get dumped for good. "You're not what I want" is the phrase most people tell their partners before a break-up or the end of a one-night stand. Later, they complain they're lonely and there's not too much to choose from. Well, you'll see exactly that in this movie.

This one is a romantic comedy with a twist in which the people we root for might not be the role models for a normal, healthy behavior. The main character is a lovesick scientist named Simon who has a crush on a beautiful but mean girl (so mean she's capable of telling him she wouldn't give birth to a baby because she's not the maternal type, but she spends most of the time mating like a rabbit with every man except Simon.) She treats him like a bathroom mop, and he seems to like it, because he keeps trying and trying. Eventually, he believes, she will fall for him.

There's of course a girl who's really cool and likes him a lot. A very interesting Latina girl named Trese who sees in him a potential match in the same sea of deception that's called the San Francisco Nightlife. She's angry at the world but notices in Simon a beacon of hope. Trese has a roommate too and she kinda, kinda, has feelings for her (come on, it's San Francisco, what do you expect!) The development of the story puts us in a crash course to a potential lame end (the good guy gets the cool girl and the mean girl learns her lesson) but the involvement of Simon's best friend, a player named Lorenzo, avoids an end that would make the movie forgettable or in the same bunch of lame stories like "The Notebook" or "P.S. I Love You." To tell you what Lorenzo does or says to Trese and Simon and his group of friends would be to spoil the story. His involvement and his actions caused by his past -a breakup with a beautiful girl who dumped him for a Born-Again Christian leader- is essentially the "McGuffin" of the plot. Without Lorenzo, the movie wouldn't have had movement.

It seems that men and women have to protect each other of potential damage, in a society that's already paranoid of itself. For men, the friends they think are their real friends are just fake ones trying to harm us and women will just deceive us, so men might as well go on for the ride and see what might come out. Simon finds satisfaction being rejected, Lorenzo finds it thinking about commitment while each weekend he sleeps with one bartender after another -not even thanking them for the fun!

For me, the most interesting character is Simon's friend Jimmy, an Asian kid who's trying to be a gangster (or at least a fake one) and prove his friends he has his woman under his thumb, but a simple twist of fate regarding a barbecue meat theft will make him realize things are very, very fragile in his life. The tables will turn for him as well, but Korde uses his story as a counterpoint to see what might lie ahead if Simon gets lucky with Jane.

Pain happens for a reason in this symphony of deception, but will it conclude on a major, happy note? This movie might be a great date movie for couples who aren't afraid of their own emotions and have nothing to hide. You won't find the kind of comedy you see in "Wedding Crashers" or "Forgetting Sarah Marshall."

You might find yourself amused and feeling close to the characters, way more than X's and O's in an endless game.