How to Be

I was one of the lucky ones to see this movie at Slamdance. I absolutely loved this movie.

"This is not your typical Robert Pattinson movie. He doesn't play a good-looking, heart-throb. Robert plays Art, an insecure, confused, depressed, misfit who has no direction, no real social skills, and no support from his parents. His only love is music, but he sucks at that too. After the break up from his girlfriend, he basically looses it and has to move back in with his parents. This is his struggle to become "normal" so his parents and friends will accept and love him. He even goes to the extreme of hiring a self-help professional to help him. You will feel so sad for Art – trust me! Don't get me wrong, this movie contains endless British humor to lighten the subject up.

A wonderful independent movie with a great message. A job well done for Robert Pattinson.

A young man is a psychologically mess... his girlfriend leaves him, he doesn't mesh well with his friends, he loses his volunteer job. He turns to the strangest place for help: a Canadian therapist who moves in with him.

This is director Oliver Irving's first and only film, as of this writing. And it's a good one. It is an IFC film, and there's no denying it fits in that category alongside Wes Anderson films and perhaps "Garden State". This won't be as big, and with good reason, but thanks to Robert Pattinson's popularity, it will get more viewings from people who would otherwise never have heard of it.

I really enjoyed the therapist (who sadly appears to have passed during the making of this film). And Pattinson does a fine job as a whiny nerd. His character is incredibly annoying, but such a different one from "Twilight" or "Remember Me" that it gives me the sense that he just might have a bit of range inside of him and may someday break free of the Edward Cullen trap.

'How To Be' starts off strong but quickly turns into a drawn-out yawn of a movie. The plot progresses slowly and the character development of Art, played by a blasé Robert Pattinson, turns the viewer from understanding and caring (about what happens to his relationships) to annoyance. His mates are, in my opinion, there to fill the gaps in the story- they really never help Art in his quest for 'normal' and to be blunt- it was too difficult to understand what they were saying (at one point I had to turn on the subtitles so I knew what was going on) this is never a good sign.

There is hope, however, for the young Mr. Pattinson. Though Art seems like a lost cause from the first moment he lies, Robert in a small way- keeps this movie a float. At some points Art is such a downer (which is brought on by his own doing) that I found it hard to 'put' myself through the rest of the movie. There are comedic moments when Pattinson is charming and moments when he holds your attention (close to the end) but it does not change the outcome of the overall film witch just leads one to believe- yes, sometimes we all need a little help- and in this case it is the film that needs it.

'How To Be' could be considered an art house flick but it is 100% and Indie drama. The settings are the streets of England and the overall production creates the feeling that you are standing in the midst of their conversations (when you can understand them) and the music helps the movie along nicely, but then again the music is by and large,too drab.

After spending some time in the UK I honestly thought I get British humor. After watching this, I truly think I don't.

Although the movie is well produced, the character of Art played brilliantly by Pattinson, I found myself feeling mostly sorry for him and not seeing the funny part. I see the great job of all the people involved in the production but I can't say it suits my type of sense of humor. There were moments I smiled or half-smiled but never laughed at loud.

So, over all, I don't regret watching the movie, neither would I recommend it as a great, funny comedy .

I also attended a viewing in Chicago (I was dragged along). I'm British myself, I love edgy humor and good writing, I didn't find it here.

Virtually the entire audience were die hard Robert Pattinson fans, some even wearing the T-Shirts - I'd never heard of the guy before that day. I'm pretty sure he could have starred at a wall for 2 hours and still got 10 stars from a lot of people reviewing.

The whole thing is very amateurish, you can tell it's a festival kind of movie, and in this case it isn't a good thing. The comic timing is terrible which makes it really hard to laugh at anything, it was more cringe-worthy - although again, in a cinema full of Pattinson fans he merely had to make the slightest gesture and the place was filled with roars of laughter – I was left just looking around in disbelief!

Good enough concept but an absolute fail on the execution side. I very much doubt this is going to find a distributor, as they see exactly what I see – And with the same lack of bias (i.e. not being in love with the lead actor!)