How to Be

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 .

In my opinion, I thought this was a wonderful film for anybody who can relate. I've recently lived through this type of situation and the confusion, sadness and disjointedness Art feels trough out the film is all very... what word would be best to describe this... exact. Or almost. The film has been given the title of a comedy and, I agree. Though the production is more of a drama, you do have your sudden outbursts of laughter in those unexpected moments of comedic weirdness. I also appreciated the range of different actors in the film. It's in these types of movies you can actually see real acting talent. It's a must watch for any teen who is lost right now.

Art (Robert Pattinson) is a depressed poet musician who is searching for some meaning in his life. His mother (Rebecca Pidgeon) doesn't get it. His girlfriend breaks up with him. He finds a self-help web site touting Dr. Ellington (Powell Jones)'s book "It's Not Your Fault". He is so in awe that he convinces the author to come live with him.

I don't get the humor. It is undoubtedly very quirky. But it's also very dull. There is no energy anywhere on the screen. Robert Pattinson does a good and proper job of portraying this confused depressed kid. I think he's the only one working here. Everybody else is ridiculously mannered. The doctor is super creepy without being funny. Rebecca Pidgeon is stiff as a board.

The plot, the writing, the dialog, the acting all lack any power. It's only an indie is not a good excuse. This is really a movie for Pattinson fans only. Because he's the only good thing here.

The funny thing about this film is in the first 3 minutes I'm saying to myself, that's Cedric Diggory, being the ignorant American I am. But after the 4th minute I could see no one but Art, the lovable and pathetic loser who just doesn't know how to get a handle on his life because he has no one to validate his existence. His parents loath him, his girlfriend dumps him, and his new age therapist seems to need Art more than Art needs him in the end. I came home from seeing this movie at Slamdance and described it to someone as "my life, except 20 something, and a guy, and in London, but other than that, EXACTLY my life!" The people I saw it with at Slamdance didn't get it, but they had much more "normal" upbringings. Like I said, I loved this movie because I could identify so much with it, and at the same time it was almost unbearable to watch because I saw so much of myself, the parts I'd rather leave to my own past. I commend the cast and crew for a very funny and heartfelt movie, and recommend everyone watch it with an open mind. It may not be your life, but it was someone's.

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!)