Take Care

This movie goes for the humor with absolutely crazy situations early on. Insane. Like a woman nursing a broken leg and arm sliding her way to her neighbor's door to complain about his loud music and then asking him to make her a sandwich, which he does. When I say sliding, I mean just that - flat on her back pushing with her one good leg. He has already carried this complete stranger up 4 blights of stairs on his back. If you can get past craziness which at times is cringeworthy, it get's better after what seemed like a very long part of the movie.

I've never seen a premise like this where she guilts her ex boyfriend into taking care of her indefinitely. And he has a beautiful current girlfriend who fits the arm candy mold. At times she seems jealous, but rightfully so given circumstances and puts up with it pretty well for the most part.

I honestly wasn't sure who was going to end up with whom other than what you would expect from this type of movie. The reason Devon agrees to this weird situation isn't obvious at first but before long the mutual backstory of Frannie and Devon explains it. So I give it points for an interesting story.

The acting is OK as is the dialogue. At times Frannie is disgusting and a total loser, but she becomes almost likeable by the end.

Every single girl's greatest fear come true. Frannie is hurt in a car accident such that she has one leg broken and the opposite arm broken. Thus she has a very hard time taking care of herself. Sure she has a physical therapist coming by and a few helpers but she needs someone there 18-6. Who you going to call? Your ex. The description sounds odd. It is one reason I didn't watch it earlier. But there is a more detailed and reasonable explanation as to why she would choose her ex as opposed to say a nursing organization paid by her insurance. Devon, her ex, happens to have nothing to do. He just sold his company for nice profit and he can be available. He does, however, have a jealous girlfriend.

As would really happen, the two grow closer and Devon realizes a few things about why they broke up in the first place. Basically it was things going on with him and the process of helping her helps him to grow and learn a few things about himself that allows them to move forward. It can be slow in spots but overall entertaining.

This movie is not rocket science, but it is a significant step above most of the romantic drivel out there. I really liked the two leads; at first, I wasn't sure I liked either, but they became very likable characters and had excellent chemistry. I appreciated that both characters' unlikeable- ness at the beginning made contextual sense in the plot, and that they didn't just have a 180 degree change of personality, but developed into softer people as their situations changed. The girlfriend was a bit one-dimensional, and it always annoys me when the romantic lead's significant other -- who is clearly destined to be given the boot -- is so despicable that there's no conceivable way the lead would actually be dating this person. But she was nonetheless entertaining, so not all bad. I also thought the next door neighbor was well scripted and acted. I would easily watch this again - fun movie.

Take Care is a fun little movie for when you're laid up in bed with a backache and want an easy film to watch. It's nothing we haven't seen before, but it certainly has it's moments. You have to be in the mood for it though. But there's something about it that makes it so I can't stop thinking about it. I'd like to watch it again, a second time, just to figure out what it is. And that's rare for me to want to watch ANY film twice. At any rate, if I do watch it again, it won't be for a long while. But maybe I'll feel like turning it on next time I have a backache or something.

That's what it is, it's a good backache movie! Ah, perhaps I should make that the title of my review. But alas, I will not.

This movie is a gem. I usually would consider this a chick flick, but as a guy, I totally enjoyed it. The acting and dialogue are all very good and it is never boring or too mushy. It actually starts out with a hilarious scene as Frannies neighbor has to haul her up 4 flights of stairs on his back and the comic moments keep coming. The interplay of Frannie, her ex and her ex's new girlfriend is especially fun to watch. The neighbor and sister and doctor all provide terrific supporting roles as well.

If they kept making romantic comedies like this, I'd definitely be interested in watching them more often. This is one film I would definitely recommend especially to guys who would otherwise skip such a film based on its premise. A solid 7.5 in my opinion.