Valerie Flake

Far be it from me to try to tell anyone they will or won't like a film---I've been wrong far too often. But I liked the film, flawed as it was. The script didn't always ring very realistic, but the cast pulled it off pretty well. Desribed earlier as `homely', I found Valerie (Susan Traylor) to be the kind of homely that it would be easy to fall in love with at first sight. I remember her from "Broken Vessels", too, (probably a better film) so maybe she has a nice Catherine Keener-esque career ahead of her. As for the ending, I found myself wondering how it related to the rest of the film, so I was left a bit uneasy.

Wayne Dwight (nwdwight@earthlink.net) With all the comments the above person wrote were way off base! This was one of those movies that keeps you on edge of your seat wondering where it is going and if this poor unfortunate can find happiness, which she ends up not finding! Sad movie, but fun to watch and just enjoy as a story that most of us will never live! Susan Traylor did an excellent job in this movie! Don't understand why this hasn't brought her additional roles. She just made the movie, even with her exposure and dead pan expressions, which just made her more interesting to the viewer! I have to say I really enjoyed watching and enjoying her work!

I woke up one day and heard this movie on the TV. I thought here we go another pretentious emotive about being unpretentious. But I kept watching it. I recognized Susan from a lot of people I know. Some are middle age people who have gone through life and are a little jaded. She also represents a lot of younger people I know who has had something happen big or small and has let that one incident change their whole outlook.

This movie shows how certain situations or ONE situation molds a person. We all know people like that. For example a man has ONE girlfriend who cheats on him. So for the rest of his life he deals with all women like they cannot be trusted. People who let one bad experience control the rest of their lives.

Not to give anything away but it deals with the conclusion in a realistic way. People just go on in life letting that one situation define them and how they will interact with other people. I guess we call it life.

I like the lead actress, she is perfect for the part. People say she is homely. Not to me. She looks like a average looking person. People have been so jaded by letting Hollywood and the media define what is pretty that anyone who doesn't look like a starlet is considered homely. She looks just like the type of girl men marry and have kids with. There is nothing homely about her. She brings credibility to the role, because of the way she looks.

The people who interact in her life are interesting too. She has one friend, but she is not a person who is mean or nasty she is just not interested in a lot of stuff. She says things to people that people do not expect to hear but need to be told. That is one of the reasons I like people like her. No false pretense. I like that she has a good relationship with her in laws. You can see she really loves them. And they love her too.

When she tells them why she feels the way she does and acts the way she does, they have a very realistic response. Big deal. I love that, because so many people make things big deals when they really are not so life shattering. I love that point was made in the movie. But like most she was already in her comfort zone so she was not going to change.

I understood why that guy liked her right away It is the good girl ,bad boy complex. He was looking for a bad girl and he thought she was one. I had a boy boy complex so I saw the attraction right away. The problem with her sister seemed to have predated the tragedy with her husband. So that could of been about anything.

I was happy to see Mike Damone from Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Richard Romanus. He played the bartender. Looks older but sounds the same. It was a nice small part. Same goes for Terrence Howard. Nice to see he him before he became the baby faced bad boy of movies. It was a good role for me to see because even though he played Jackie Jackson years ago in the movie about the Jackson 5 he really didn't do much. This role gives a glimpse on how he could play a different character then the roles he is being type-casted in now. His voice was even different in this movie. Get another agent Terrence, now.

The only thing that annoyed me and I know people liked was that soundtrack. I just do not like that type of music and voice. It took away from the movie. It was a distraction. I am not sure what was more annoying the voice or the music. That IMO is the only downside of the movie.

I've now seen this movie twice. I still don't know what I've seen. Unusual yes, repetitive yes, boring no, well acted yes, predictable yes, unusual plot no. So how do you evaluate this movie ? See it for yourself, give it time, it will gather your interest, do not expect a lot. While Susan Traylor is not pretty and looks well worn in some scenes, she does have a sexy face and nice body movements, she sure could use some more curves though. Her acting talent is pretty good, although I have never seen her in another movie, so it's hard to judge on the basis of one time. She is this movie, she carries it throughout. The rest of the acting seams pretty good to me and each character adds something to the film. I suggest you watch it..

"Valerie Flake" is a slice-of-life indie which tells of a homely young woman with an abundance of sarcasm as she tries to find herself in the wake of her husband's death. The film is flawed in many ways but the most notable seems to be how her love interest falls all over himself at first sight when most men would have been running the other direction. I sat through this tedious and very ordinary drama because the Tivo guide info ranked it at 2.5 stars along side such films as "Girl Interrupted" and "The Patriot". Guess I'll be calling Tivo. Pass on this one.