Vanilla

I really don't know why my public library decided to buy this movie, it seems all of 20 or 30 people have actually seen it. I exaggerate but looking at the votes here you find a whole bunch of "10" votes which is unrealistic. But you also find a bunch of "1" votes, equally unrealistic. And the one review with a "10" is an account with only one review, no doubt a member of the movie's production. So with that out of the way ...

I was attracted to it mainly because it had "road trip to New Orleans" as part of the storyline. I love New Orleans, I'll watch just about any movie filmed in that area. Sadly there isn't very much New Orleans but a lot of road trip to get there.

This is the project of first-time filmmaker Will Dennis who wrote, directed, and is the lead as Elliot. He has an older van, someone else wants it for a movie being shot in New Orleans, he and Kimmie (Kelsea Bauman) together drive the van there.

It is immediately clear that this is not a stellar effort, the writing is quite uneven and the main characters who barely know each other are strange. They discuss intimate sex and body parts as casually as others might discuss vacations and national parks. It is off-putting because normal people don't behave that way.

My wife abandoned it after 15 or 20 minutes, she just found it irritating. I stuck with it and am glad I did, it has some interesting developments and the actors are pleasant enough. But I would find it hard to recommend to anyone else.

On DVD from my public library.

'Vanilla' is the debut film by Will Dennis who also plays Elliot, who recently quit his day job to focus on designing and building an app and is still pining over his -exgirlfriend. He needs to sell his old van to raise money and in the process he meets Kimmie, a quirky fledgling comedian with inadequacies of her own. A lucrative offer from a production company for the van convinces them that a road trip would be worth the payoff, but the boundaries of all 3 relationships are tested and it takes you to places that are unexpected. This film is funny and moving at times. I fell in love with Kimmie and her candid observations. This is a charming independent debut film.

I thought I might like Vanilla, but I LOVED it! It was funny, surprising, and honest, with great performances and an excellent script. Highly recommended!

It's a very good down to earth well rounded comedy which avoids a lot of the tropes of a round trip comedy. Adding a lot of charm. Does well avoiding a lot of the cliches and by going it's own beat. Loved the ending

Aside from being shallow and full of inconsistencies with real life events, we reach more negative points (didn't see that coming, did ya?!). "Vanilla" is the kind of movie which tries to talk about feminism and equality and open-mindedness, but it fails to do so as a movie. I mean, a movie with cinematic merits. Anyhow, the idea is genuine, the comedy is acceptable, but the whole package of the movie, it just sounds a little bit shallow. Or out of order. Or, I don't know. Not catchy enough. Yet, I feel that "Vanilla" fails to engage the audience long enough to deliver the message. Other than these, meh. It's acceptable. I give "Vanilla" 1 star.