A Lobster Tale

The story concept of "A Lobster Tale" is very interesting. A poor Lobster Fisherman named Cody (Colm Meaney) finds some magic, green gooey substance caught in his lobster net. This "goo" proves to have healing powers. Because he has a limited amount of the magic substance, he and his family must make decisions about who can use it, when, where, and why… Therein, begins the family's problems. Suddenly they are most popular people in town, because everybody wants to get a piece of the magic substance. This scenario provides the characters with difficult decisions and ridiculously amusing situations.

I though the acting was great. Cody's son (played by Jack Knight) nailed an emotional scene, and other actors rounded out a strong cast –Colm Meaney, Alberta Watson (recognized her from "24"), and Graham Greene, who was very funny as a slacker cop.

My biggest criticism is that the movie was a little long. The middle section where the townspeople are continually confronting/begging him got very redundant. The pacing definitely could have been sped up through the middle section of the movie.

Otherwise, it was a really nice story with some good messages, some emotional moments, and some ironic/understated humor throughout.

It's a story we've seen before: a family that's down on their luck stumbles upon something unexpected, but their sudden good fortune produces its own can of worms. There are very familiar themes and story beats - hard work, school bullies, capitalist temptations, learning what's most important, and so on and so on. I'd swear we've even seen this same story in another movie with Graham Greene, pleasant and ubiquitous character actor that he is. It's more than a little predictable, for that matter, from start to finish. Still, if unremarkable, 'A lobster tale' is solidly made, and enjoyable enough.

It's well made from a technical standpoint; everything about the production design is smartly considered, and every little detail that goes into making a movie is on point. The music is fine, and the direction, and the minimal special effects. As far as the writing goes, we've seen all these characters, lines of dialogue, scenes, and story beats before - but it's okay. If we can get a new exorcism flick every few years, and if major studios can churn out 3-4 superhero movies in a year, why not a recognizable family-friendly drama every few years?

It's fair and valid to deduct points for lack of originality, though in fairness, if originality were a great concern for movie-goers, far more pictures would bomb at the box office every year than not. More substantial than this, however, the chief criticism I have with 'A lobster tale' is that the entire length is painted with the same even-handed tone. No matter what the mood or content of any one moment may be - (low-key) suspenseful, heartfelt, humorous sad - all these 90 minutes feel identical. There is no rise, no fall; no crescendo, no climax, no denouement. It's competently made in every single way, except for that it fails to meaningfully resonate on any level.

This is particularly unfortunate because I recognize strong capability in the cast, not least of all star Colm Meaney, but their performances are almost uniformly reduced to a single shade of grey for the entire runtime. That hardly seems fair to them, or to we viewers. None of this is to say that this film is bad; on the contrary, I like it more so than not - but only just. It's just that given a choice between 10 pictures with the same narrative, there's no specific reason why you should choose this one, save for that you're an especial fan of someone involved in the production.

'A lobster tale' is a decent way to pass a lazy afternoon, if you happen to come across it. Just don't feel like you need to go out of your way for it.

A serious low budget film about what a miracle can do to simple normal people.

I loved every part of it. The ending was exactly how I pictured a true to life experience in the same situation.

Characters evaluate themselves and find the true meaning to giving and receiving. The message in this movie is not hard to see....

It's hard to find other movies that are true to the soul, like this one is.

Don't get me wrong, the movie also has some humor that keeps it fresh and exciting as well. I highly recommend the movie to anyone looking to sit back and relax in front of the television.

I thought a Lobster Tale was a really inspiring story. I hadn't heard of this movie a lot, but when I saw it, I told my friends all about it. The plot is really original and I loved the end result of the movie. What is great about this movie is that the whole family can watch it. I felt like my whole family enjoyed it and no one felt bored while watching it. The actors also in the movie made it really enjoyable. I felt that Colm Meaney played his part really well and was really believable. He was a great father is the movie, and the boy who played his son was also very good. All in all, I recommend going to see this movie; you won't be disappointed.

I saw A Lobster Tale yesterday at the Phoenix Film Festival. It is a terrific film. Colm Meaney, Alberta Watson and Jack Knight are fantastic. There is a great performance also by Graham Greene who was a perfect choice as the sheriff. It is a nice warm family film with a great message...yet has the laugh and cry moments too. I hope it gets picked up for distribution. Highly recommend it! If you are fan of Jericho/the TV show...there is a pivotal role in Lobster Tale played by Erik Knudsen who plays Dale the young store owner on Jericho. I had the pleasure of meeting the director, Adam Massey after the screening for a Q & A. He is one to watch out for, he will be making some great films in the upcoming years.