Writers today are very confused, they do not understand that they can create anything in a fictional story and that includes a positive outcome. Instead they dwell in depressing sentimentality and the final result is films like this. I was expecting a dysfunctional group, dealing with their differences and coming together at the end but instead you get this boring, depressing film.
The acting is all over the place as Paul Giamatti is given almost nothing to work with but still manages to soldier on for a very good performance. Dominic Sessa on the other hand needs a better director to get the most out of him as he goes from solid to whiny depending on the scene. Unfortunately Da'Vine Joy Randolph comes off very amateurish and takes you out of the film whenever she is on the screen.
By no means am I one to complain about dramatic scenes taking too long but too many times in this the camera just lingers on a scene way past its welcome. The director also meaninglessly forces pot into the film during a time when around 70% of people did not use it and that was even lower in prep schools which were incredibly strict about its use and the penalty was expulsion.
Relationships in this film serve no purpose. No one gets together romantically and no meaningful friendships develop, everyone just sort of bumps into each other as if they mean nothing to each other. They kept hinting at something for all the characters but just abandon those relationships with no explanation. This includes the leads who all just go their separate ways at the end.
How much more depressing do you need to make the main character Professor Hunham (Giamatti)? They give him a genetic body odor problem, depression, an abusive father, a dead mother and getting screwed out of graduating Harvard by a spoiled rich kid. Instead of giving him some hopeful ending he sacrifices himself for no benefit. Why? To help a rich kid he briefly bonded with not get kicked out of a prep school? This film fails on every level and teaches you nothing.
The acting is all over the place as Paul Giamatti is given almost nothing to work with but still manages to soldier on for a very good performance. Dominic Sessa on the other hand needs a better director to get the most out of him as he goes from solid to whiny depending on the scene. Unfortunately Da'Vine Joy Randolph comes off very amateurish and takes you out of the film whenever she is on the screen.
By no means am I one to complain about dramatic scenes taking too long but too many times in this the camera just lingers on a scene way past its welcome. The director also meaninglessly forces pot into the film during a time when around 70% of people did not use it and that was even lower in prep schools which were incredibly strict about its use and the penalty was expulsion.
Relationships in this film serve no purpose. No one gets together romantically and no meaningful friendships develop, everyone just sort of bumps into each other as if they mean nothing to each other. They kept hinting at something for all the characters but just abandon those relationships with no explanation. This includes the leads who all just go their separate ways at the end.
How much more depressing do you need to make the main character Professor Hunham (Giamatti)? They give him a genetic body odor problem, depression, an abusive father, a dead mother and getting screwed out of graduating Harvard by a spoiled rich kid. Instead of giving him some hopeful ending he sacrifices himself for no benefit. Why? To help a rich kid he briefly bonded with not get kicked out of a prep school? This film fails on every level and teaches you nothing.
