Maybe there are too many Stu cronies, but I'm not one of them and I really liked the film. No, I didn't think it was anywhere NEAR the best films I've seen, but one of my top criteria for liking a film is one that keeps me totally absorbed, which this one did.
I liked the characters and the way they developed. When Sean first proposes to Melody at Churchill Downs, you don't know what their relationship is and the fact that he's "not right." You see this very cute guy and he's being turned down in public -- and SHE (Melody) is getting booed by the crowd. The way she runs out of there make you wonder WHY she can't marry him, does she have something to hide?
I like the way that she eases into a comfortable relationship with David, and then you see Sean's dark side unfold, as you wonder what is the real story with Susan and David.
When Melody asks David why he tells her things that he's told nobody else, she answers her own question by saying that she is, in essence, a stranger, and it's hard to know who to trust. At that moment, one might wonder if SHE can be trusted.
I watched the deleted scenes on the DVD and every one of them deserved to be deleted. They weren't very good and would have really watered down the film. A lot of them futher explored the relationship between David & Susan (like them "trying" for a baby, but they didn't work. Clarity in editing made this a better film!)
The end of the film was a bit disappointing to me; I thought there was more there that could have been developed and crafted until something that did justice to the rest of the film.
Personally, I don't rate movies solely on their quality; I rate them based on how much I enjoyed them. This one kept me watching, and I liked the character-driven plot.
Not everyone HAS to know Stu or be his crony to have enjoyed this film.
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Kevin-1305
18 years ago
This film is completely predictable without rendering any entertainment
value whatsoever. Its simply terrible. It amazes me that work like this
actually gets made; moreover, it has the guts to solicit money, as if
making the film were equal, in some far away galaxy, to having suffered
through watching it. The twists and turns travel deep into plot point
after point until the mystery unravels itself into portraiture--nothing
meaningful happens. What does occur are heavy-handed maneuvers in story
conventions at the expense of the audience. Surely there is no
conscious disdain for the viewer, but to scorn film goers through
reckless naivety isn't just no matter how mot juste the intentions
might have been. Furthermore, it is hard to believe that any skill lies
in either the craft to create story or to successfully, manipulate
deceitfully. Neither are done subtly thus neither are received auspiciously. Hopefully the cast and crew were given the proper time to
jump ship before this boat sank back into the mind from which it came.
Perhaps Writer/Director Pollard should stick to voice-overs?
Stu... take a chance
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