Nate and Margaret

I watched Nate & Margaret because Tyler Ross was in it. I knew about Tyler from watching two excellent movies by Stephen Cone, The Wise Kids and Henry Gamble's Birthday Party. Tyler has a small role in Henry Gamble, a leading role in The Wise Kids. After watching Nate & Margaret, my opinion that Tyler Ross is a wonderful actor has not changed. But as for the movie itself, well, director Nathan Adloff should have a long talk with Stephen Cone about how to make a movie worth watching. Both of Cone's films have interesting, well-developed characters, interwoven stories, and excellent timing. Unfortunately, the excellent acting by the three leads, Natalie West (Margaret), Tyler Ross (Nate), and Conor McCahill (James) could not make up for the poor script and directing.

Nate & Margaret is that rare combination of writing with intelligence, acting with depth, and direction with a storyteller's sensibility.

In these days of billion dollar blockbusters with interchangeable 'big name' stars, story lines driven by special effects, and direction as excessive as the decibel level of the soundtrack, it is refreshing to find a 'little' film that has chosen the path less traveled.

Veteran actress Natalie West gives us a quirky, cranky and ultimately irresistible Margaret, an eccentric 52 year old pursuing her dream of becoming a stand up comic. Tyler Ross plays Margaret's unlikely best friend, Nate, a 19 year old film student. Ross' performance bubbling with boyish charm and enthusiasm provides the perfect counterbalance to West's world weary curmudgeon. The supporting cast of characters are all well drawn and completely relatable. We know these people; we love these people; we are these people.

Nathan Adloff handles his big screen directorial debut (he also wrote and produced the film) with a combination of wit and tenderness that elevates what could have been a cute coming of age story to really fine filmmaking that makes me anxious to see what he has up his sleeve for his sophomore outing.

No, Nate & Margaret won't send you into sensory overload, but it will steal your heart.

Although this movie is the first from Adloff and Palmer, it's quite well done. But to tell the truth the actor Tyler Ross is the reason I watched this movie. As a matter of fact he looks a lot like the ex porn star now doing regular movies Sean Paul Lockhart (Brent Corrigan)specially in " Judas kiss" which is too a low budget, 1st movie. Fact is women's note for this movie is 8.5 whereas males give it a 4.5 . Likely reason : the real cute Tyler. His character is the perfect boyfriend, kind, clever, stable guy. Margaret is to my taste too shallow. Adding 20 minutes to the movies to give more details about the life of this women could have created more empathy. I give this movie a good 5 which is a good mark. Some informations are missing in the storyline towards the end. I really think 20 minutes more would have solved theses little problems.

This is a really nice little movie about two people who have a deep friendship at stalled points in their lives. Nate is an incredibly shy film student who is trying to explore life as a gay man. Margaret is a woman with dreams of being a stand up comic who has not learned to speak her own truth. Their friendship is the spark for both of them to move forward in their lives, not without conflict, pain and difficulty. Still, it remains a sweet, light-hearted and hopeful film. Nate's story arc in particular has a very genuine feel. There is really nothing in the movie that feels forces or shoved in for moving the plot forward. Everything flows out of the characters.

It's always nice to see Chicago in a movie as well. It's a location with a lot of character that doesn't get utilized enough.

I'm not sure what the good folks at Netflix were thinking when categorizing this film, but it's certainly not a comedy. Nate & Margaret is a character study of the eponymous duo, and it is not funny.

Positive: The film shines in its realistic depictions of mundane social interactions. The dialogue seems unsatisfying at first, but it's actually spot-on in depicting casual exchanges (both short and overly drawn-out) as opposed to the tighter, snappier dialogue audiences are more accustomed to. Alos, Nate & Margaret's cinematography is not overly artistic, but rather impressively unintrusive. It displays restraint uncommon in a first-time director.

Negative: This movie is as funny as a $40,000 chemotherapy bill. You can tell the moments where you were supposed to laugh, but these moments feel empty and sad. It's like you're a fly on the wall of the theater during the first screening, and you can see the director's family members forcing a laugh. It leaves you wanting to pull the director aside and give him examples of real comedy (Mel Brooks, Harold Reimis, even Judd Apatow if that's how you choose to live your life).

The film is rife with musical interludes that don't serve any purpose other than maybe draw out the runtime. There are at least three continuous musical tracks at the opening, three different tracks that all sound like DVD menu screen music.

The plot or narrative arc is unclear. The audience misses out on the parts of the characters' development that would be most interesting, then it sort of ends. In between there are a lot of scenes that frankly we can't say belong or don't belong because we can't tell what the director was trying to say. Friends are good? Relationships are... a mixed bag? No clue.

Readers: save yourself an hour and eighteen minutes. Director: Keep working, man, you're going places some day. Try something more traditional before you break the rules.