Ride the Eagle

The movie currently is rated 6.6 on imdb and honestly, i think thats pretty fair. The movie is.....fine. I think Jake Johnson is very good in the movie and luckily he is the main star/focus. But despite that I just had a hard time really loving and getting into this movie. A lot of the dialogue just felt like they were trying too hard to be quirky. I also never really felt a connection between Leif and Audrey. They seemed more like brother and sister than love interest. Jk Simmons just plays another loud angry man that youve seen time and time again.

I really liked this films during the more quiet, reflective serious moments of the film. But unfortunately just too far and few between. Just too much "comedy" that consists of things like "Arent paintings of dogs in wigs funny?", "Isnt having every single cabinet in your kitchen filled with bags of weed funny?", etc.

Not the worst movie ever...just kind of forgettable.

1) I've written about the recent "rent an Airbnb and use it as a set for your indie film" phenomenon but this was actually done right. A huge part is because of competent actors and likeable/intriguing characters.

2) Free of the usual unnecessary agenda (except for a global warming vs politicians bit) which is refreshing from an American comedy these days.

3) Not a great deal of twists here but it's a comfy film for a great hang. All the 5 characters (dog included, since it got a lot of screen time) were superb with JK Simmons not having a lot to do and the ex gf's phone quips being my favorite.

Slacker musician Leif Reinhold (Jake Johnson) is told of his estranged mother Honey (Susan Sarandon)'s death. She leaves him her a large cabin but the conditional inheritance comes with many tasks to complete. One of the tasks is to call his former love Audrey (D'Arcy Carden). Carl (J. K. Simmons) is Honey's ex.

Jake and D'Arcy have a nice comedic chemistry even on the phone. I wouldn't them doing something more in another movie. The phone sex is fun. They have the same comedic sensibility. They could have done more in this movie like talk about their past relationship. It would have been fine to have them talked the whole movie. Jake and J. K. are also good but they are one person removed. There is always going to be a hole in the middle of their connection. This is a fine little indie.

This film manages to capture the essence of what love is between a mother and her son.

The story deals with self-improvement that will always make us rethink the course of our lives and what we want to do with it, it also raises the strong relationship between a mother and her son despite the harshness and difficulties they have, there will always be affection between the two. It manages to capture how it is to deal with the grief that you have with someone close despite not knowing each other, proving that it is always good to smooth things over with someone you love because when they are gone you will understand how much you miss them. In the film it is portrayed that we must always express our feelings with ourselves and with the people we love since life is short and we should not waste it, just as we should enjoy it and learn from our mistakes. The character development is complete, the performances are good, the humor used sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, the ending is very long even though it is satisfying and emotional.

Although at first the film seems predictable, I think it is very enjoyable to see this love between mother and son, and how we should take advantage of life since it is very short, and how our personal maturity will make us enjoy life.

This story sounded cheesy and cliche, but it turned out to be quite a nice story.

The good: this movie has got a lighthearted, mellow, witty kinda feel to it.

More good: great actors, BUT they dont really excell at comedy. BUT it'll do...

The bad: the jokes are just not up there yet. They just miss the mark a bit. Still reasonably amusing to watch, but with some better direction and timing, it could have been funnier.

Not annoying. Only a bit slow. But the nice kind of slow...

6 and a half star is perfectly capturing the quality of this movie. But I'll upgrade it to 7 stars, because this movie is so nice and mellow... I liked that...