Easy

As someone who works at the Sundance Film Festival as a volunteer assistant manager/crowd control, I have seen many films in my 7 years there. But this film, which showed in January of this year, 2004, was selected as a special film to show to volunteers the same night as Opening Night. What a good choice.

The indie world's version of a romantic comedy/drama (meaning, its not predictable, it's very realistic, and it STILL entertains), "EASY" is a film that should please most audiences who watch it, primarily the female movielover. This film, to my male eyes, accurately shows what a sexually active, yet celibacy-curious, young woman's life can be like, especially when she meets two men who are right for her, though at slightly different times. (Hollywood would have her meet them the same day....though she almost does here. One of them happens to host a local TV show that she watches at home.)

The beauty here, and what i won't spoil, is you don't know which guy she will end up with. (There's absolutely no guarantee that she'll end up with anyone, period.) Actually, "the beauty here" is the lead character, played by the I-dare-you-to-not-fall-for-her Marguerite Moreau. Reminding me of Barbara Hershey in her 20s, Ms. Moreau holds the film together like Super Glue, and deserves credit for being an actress who, in these slightly prudish times, allows herself to be realistically filmed during sexual moments. Adding to the film's cohesiveness are the performances by the other actors, including Emily Deschanel, Zooey's equally talented sister, and the two guys played by Naveen Andrews and Brian F. O'Byrne.

Writer/director Jane Weinstock probably deserves some of that credit, as an actor can only do something truthfully, if he or she feels there's someone they can trust behind the camera. It's a film that made me bemoan my current non-existant love life, as it shows the fun and the messiness inherent with strong sexual relationship.

This is not a heavy film, by any means. It's as if the DNA of Nora Ephron was spliced with John Cassavetes. And on top of the expert storytelling...is the great soundtrack by Grant Lee Phillips. Not only are some of his past songs from his solo albums used (where I nodded my head during one lovely red-tinged sex scene, aware that a song that i already loved, was being used PERFECTLY), but he also supplied the score throughout.

Enough gushing. Someone take this film, and give it to the movie-dating Saturday night crowd. (As far as I know, it's still looking for a distributor.) Watch more heads start to nod, as the music and images and acting and writing/directing all gel together to make an "EASY" winner.

I agree with all of the glowing reviews posted previously, except I would tine them down a few notches.

This film is well made considering the budget they had to work with. Unfortunately, it really has nothing to say, and so beings to fall apart at the end. It's a pleasant little film, though, and as has been said over and over, Marguerite Moreau is just mesmerizing. Without her this film would be torture to watch, but the camera takes full advantage of both her looks, and the many facets of her personality. -that's what really works here, and the director certainly deserves credit for realizing this and shooting / editing specifically for this.

A nice little "date" movie, with plenty of subtle humor and a few very hot sex scenes. (in a "nice" way) It has the amazing ms Moreau for the guys, and a few "chick flick" touches for the ladies.

Definitely worth seeing, just don't expect it to change your life in any way.

EASY is not a "chick flick" (though women will definitely identify with the main character) and is not your standard Hollywood romantic comedy. EASY is the film all those Hugh Grant movies aspire to be - smart, funny, sexy, appealing to both sexes, not smug and patronizing.

Jaime (Marguerite Moreau) dates a lot of jerks and it never works out. She's beautiful, interesting, neurotic, and dates in all the wrong ways. Any 20-40-something woman who didn't grow up in a convent will smile and cringe as she identifies with Jaime's struggle to figure out who she is, what she wants and how to get it. She seems to take one step forward and two steps back with her family and friends getting all tangled up in the story (in brilliantly funny ways).

This movie isn't spoon-fed to it's audience with all the glossiness of Hollywood. The sex scenes feel real, with no soundtrack crescendo at the climax (or anti-climax); the characters are sympathetic and interesting; I especially liked Brian F. O'Byrne's performance. Weinstock showed playfulness in writing the overlapping relationships with a tongue-in-cheek humor, ala Shakespeare or modern British comedy.

EASY is a funny, emotional, sexy movie for thinking adults, not the lobotomized masses that can't get enough close-ups of Julia Roberts' smile or Meg Ryan's smirk. It's smarter than other films about contemporary relationships. It's also better acted.

Finally: If you don't fall in love with Marguerite Moreau after seeing this film, you're made of stone.

This is the standard plot of "Which guy should should the girl choose?" The choices are: the correct choice, or the other guy. I won't spoil it for you. Even though the ending is predictable, I didn't care. I was just hoping she'd make her decision quickly so the movie would end. At least it's a short movie, something like 90 minutes.

If you're going to use a tired plot, you need to do better than this. Some folks might like the gratuitous sex scenes; they did help pass the time but not to the point where it made Easy entertaining. There are plenty of romantic comedies that are better than this; if you can't find one watch an episode of Friends or Coupling.

Miss it, unless you have an awful lot of spare time.

This film is about the love life of "Jamie," who is the title character. Jamie is a 20-something woman who sleeps with every guy in sight. Yup, she's easy all right. She generally seems to be okay with that. However, her random hook-ups just aren't satisfying her of late. She decides to launch into a period of celibacy, just like the main character in the mainstream film "40 Days and 40 Nights." In the mean time, her friends and relatives pair up, get pregnant, and get married in unusual combinations.

While Jamie's wild ways last, this is a cute and fun movie. The characters seem slightly more genuine than usual. Jamie's sex scenes are awfully hot. However, the film quickly looses steam for lack of any sort of real plot. Well, a meandering plot less Indy film is no rarity, but the script then tries to keep us interested by springing "cheap drama" out of every futon in LA. Out of nowhere there are pregnancies, out-of-wedlock births, gay marriages, inter-color marriages, geriatric marriages, etc. Overnight, Jamie is transformed from a free-wheeling free-love adventurer to a sexually delicate and vulnerable shrinking violet.

Perhaps if this film had been made 30 years ago such an unconnected series of events would have seemed interesting for being nonconformist. It might have been taken to indicate some change in society. These days, such relationships are not interesting in their own right.

So, the last half breaks down into a soap opera.