Alright Now

You're probably familiar with the manic pixie romcom formula which is basically: take 1 hyper quirky happy girl with short hair and pair her with a straight-faced, straight-laced, lovable loser of a guy, shake vigorously and hilarity ensues. Fine examples include "500 Days of Summer" (Zooey Deschanel), "Yes Man" (Zooey Deschanel), or anything else that has (Zooey Deschanel). Here we have an interesting twist on the manic pixie romcom formula. Our manic pixie is a real a-hole. And it's the straight-laced loser guy who is the breath of fresh air in her otherwise decaying life.

"Alright Now" is the story of a washed up 30-something, one-hit-wonder singer from the 90s "Jo" (Cobie Smulders) as she struggles with the denial that she can't play the guitar and that that her hip 90s wardrobe is now "ironic vintage" attire. She herself has become a joke to the young kids. So what does she do? She enrolls in college. It's a great premise, like a blend of Riann Wilson's "The Rocker" and Rodney Dangerfield's "Back to School" in the context of a manic pixie romcom.

The presentation is very realistic with a lot of improvised scenes that carry a natural awkward brand of humor. Jo trades subtle gags and not-so-subtle sexual innuendo with our lovable loser "Peter" (Richard Elis) who plays the admissions officer at the college but mostly stumbles around like a Welsh rarebit in the headlights. You'll enjoy this if you like awkward humor and imperfect dialogue (people talking over each other, often mumbling nonsense but with the occasional under-the-breath punchline like in films with Michael Cera "Juno", "Superbad", etc). But if you prefer a more traditional type of comedy with scripted jokes and planned gags, you might not get into this flick.

The tagline on the DVD reads "an unconventional romantic comedy" and that's one of the most accurate taglines I've ever seen. This movie presents itself as a romcom, but it deliberately avoids the romcom clichés. There are no emotional airport chase scenes or perfectly planned climactic monologues ending in "You had me at hello". Those movies are a lot of fun, but this is not one of them. This is a romcom at the speed of real life. Like the tagline says, this movie is unconventional. But if you're ready for anything, even a kick in the nuts or two, then this movie will be a fun watch. (In all fairness, guys, you should never sneak up on a woman who is deep in the transcendental serenity of meditation. Not without wearing a jockstrap.)

I do try my best to approach films with an open mind, even if I happen to see bad reviews, low ratings, etc. here on IMDB or on, say, Rotten Tomatoes. That said, the many scathingly bad reviews posted for this film did make it hard to watch with an unbiased mind, and I suppose I was on the lookout for the usual "bad movie" red flags. Sadly, there were many. That said, given the subject matter (and given that I am a musician with a lot of experiences over the years, both good and bad, in bands), I really do think I went into it wanting to like this movie. Unfortunately, those bad reviews were well justified. This movie was embarrassingly bad. I am not familiar with the actors playing the leads, but I would not be surprised if this film alone torpedoed their careers. The acting is so stupefyingly bad that I was forced to look away at some points, as if averting my eyes from someone picking their nose or scratching their back. The editing appeared to have been done in-camera, and the random, utterly nonsensical jump cuts reminded me of a home movie videographer trying to keep their clips short because they were worried they may run out of tape. As to the plot... what plot? If there was one, if there was anything, anything at all, that resembled some sort of coherent narrative, well, I missed it, sorry.

I can only say I am glad I borrowed this from the local library, so no money changed hands.

My totally unsolicited advice to the actors, writer, director, editor, producer, cinematographer, exec producer, composer(s), vfx team... don't quit your day jobs.

This is an improvisational piece filmed in five days by Jamie Adams. Cobie Smulders plays Joanne, a 90's rock musician who enrolls in college after her band breaks up.Then fate brings her together with super sexy Peter (Richard Elis). This is a story about a girl who thinks she is everything and a man who lacks confidence coming together and finding love. Don't watch and expect a big production, this movie is like reality; stumbling people, clumsy, awkward and chaotic. All the things people criticized this movie for are actually the things that make this movie stand out and make it real. Cobie did a great job playing the rock musician. If you think she was loud and over the top, that was probably what she was aiming for, but all credits for making this movie great go to Richard for bringing sweetness and sensitivity.

JoAnne Skye (Cobie Smulders) is a 90's rock star. The "Filthy Dukes" is her band. Her stardom is now faded and she's struggling to keep going. When her band finally quits, she reconnects with an old friend Sara Ramsey (Jessica Hynes) living in a caravan and decides to be an university student. She has a fling with administrator Pete (Richard Elis).

Firstly, I adore Cobie Smulders, and Jessica Hynes for Spaced. The 4 rating concerned me but also intrigued me. I can see the problems but it's not quite that bad. This was apparently much improvised, and shot in five days. It looks and feels it. It needs a few more written scenes and to extend it to a full week. It tries to cover with some montage sequences. Smulders could do a little singing but the opening music video is too inferior. I would suggest lip sync. There are a few good songs in the movie. It's fine to pick one of them and have her lip sync it. As for the characters, I like the destructiveness of Smulders, the buried jealousy of Hynes, and Elis' innate niceness. There is a lot to like here but it is still not good enough.

So hard to relate and therefore unable to say I actually enjoyed the movie. 2 minutes in I thought what the heck go and have a beer and a steak and enjoy the evening, but no I last the 95 minutes. Damn