How to Live with a Vegan Without Killing Them

This good-natured indie film has a lot in common with "slacker" comedies like "Clerks" – it's filmed in a suburban location (Milwaukee) with a lead who's balancing a love life, his career, and surrounded by a group of wise-cracking friends, who give advice - solicited and otherwise.

"Live With a Vegan" may be typical of a lot of first-time filmmakers who make films like this – you suspect this is what they know; drinking beer, bitching about girlfriends, getting coffee, etc. "Vegan" is par for the course in that respect, but for two elements; it gets a lot of mileage out of jokes at the expense of the "psycho-bitch" girlfriend, Stacy, a vegan who moves in with Scott (Ty Lennox Bush) and makes his life a living hell. It's not entirely politically correct, but some of the stuff is pretty funny (especially when they have a cook-out). As well as painfully true of many relationships.

And of course, there's the other girl who's right for him...but they just don't know it. Yet.

Scott's male friends are very funny, and whenever they're on, they practically steal the film with great repartee. The writing is very funny, and "truer" than Hollywood rom-com dialogue. Troy Anderson, especially, as Erik, Scott's wise-ass best friend, deliverers all his lines with a great acidic twist, cutting through all manner of b.s., and manages to be endearing as well as occasionally insightful.

The film aims to please, and does everything a good romantic comedy should. Stacy the Vegan girlfriend-from-hell is written a little too over-the-top, and the production values are low. But it's the writing and acting that make this work, right from the beginning. A solid and funny tale of looking for love among the slacker set.

One has to wonder, what if there were alternatives in the Garden of Eden? What if Adam's eye was caught by another girl, or Eve decided on a better specimen of malehood, where would we as the human race be today? Probably just as confused as we are now. And Thomas Koch's "How To Live With A Vegan" sheds some much-needed light on the age-old battle of the sexes.

From the title, it would seem that audiences are in for either a pro-rant for vegetarianism, or a politically-incorrect argument for lovers of meat, but that would short-change the whole film. It's really about what makes us tick on an emotional level. The film reminds us of "Clerks," and at times, especially when the supporting cast fires up, it hits Kevin Smith's high marks.

Ty Lennox Bush does a good job in the lead role of Scott, a website designer whose Vegan girlfriend has just given him the "ultimatum" - Let me move in or else! What follows are some very funny anecdotes mixed in with Scott's inability to decide what to do with his girlfriend's ever-maddening Vegan practices. Goaded on by his friends, Scott declares a war on his girlfriend, while re-embarking on a quest to win back his old flame. It's never quite clear why Scott just doesn't give his annoying girlfriend the boot right off the bat, but then we wouldn't have a story.

What we do have is lots of fun from the supporting cast, Troy Anderson and Klae Scott. Anderson in particular has brutally humorous monologues which he nails perfectly, reminding us a bit of Randall from "Clerks". The principal female roles are not as well-written (it might be interesting to see such a film written and directed by a woman), nor are they as well realized by the actresses, but it's a minor quibble. The writing is strong when we stay with the boy's club, and it offers at least one side of the never-ending battle between Venus and Mars. And it's a funny side.

The gentleman who has made a comment on the film has mistakenly confused two character names. As a result, I'd like to clarify that confusion so the two actors playing the roles are not also confused with one another. The lead character's name is Andrea, played by Jena Weimer. Andrea's best friend's name is Stacy, played by myself, Sophia Dhaliwal. I think we all appreciate your comments on how you enjoyed the film, though, Roger, so thank you! It's also very exciting to see the film listed on IMDb!

Stacy = Andrea's best friend = Sophia. Andrea = Girlfriend = Jena.

Hope everyone else who sees it enjoys it as well. It was fun to produce and there are definitely some laughs in it! Thanks!

I saw this movie with some friends at UW-Milwaukee and thought it was funny, but slightly immature. I disagree with the previous poster who thought this film was disgusting - it's a comedy!! It was tongue in cheek and poking fun at both vegans and those who enjoy a bit o' meat. I thought it was a worthy effort from young filmmakers.

Basically, this is a story about a guy who knew a girl who was perfect for him, but as these things go, it didn't work out due to timing, etc. He ends up dating the titular vegan, but, obviously, abhors her and her views on eating meat. These two seemed like a bad fit from the start, but the filmmakers obviously needed a plot device to drive the main character to the "right" girl. Cute, simplistic, if a bit contrived. Give it a shot (but don't shoot the animals).

I saw this film at a film festival in Telluride. My friends brought me, so I wasn't sure what movie we were seeing until I got there. I have to say that this is the most disgusting film I have ever seen. Not only is it down right unintelligent, but it's an insult to the 93 billion animals that get murdered every year. It also stereotypes vegans as strange interpretive dancing hippies. I'm a vegan, I am also a filmmaker and experimental musician and I live in one of the US's biggest cities. There are many vegans who are "hippies", but why is this such a negative thing? These people are trying to save the lives of defenseless animals, instead of keeping secret stashes of flesh in their houses. I feel sorry for everyone that had anything to do with this film, I hope you all one day realize what a terrible thing you have done.