Saw it Tonight


It was tough to accept that the car crash portrayed on screen was capable of such catastrophic injuries because it appeared too slow and undramatic. Freeman played his Daniel character as so gentle and benevolent that you could not imagine him as the monstrous alcoholic retired cop which was important to his subplot. Molly Shannon was a terrible miscast and played her mother role like she was in an SNL skit and it was awful and distracting. There was little chemistry between Pugh and Uche to make their romance believable (although they had one scene at the end that was really well acted and you finally got the sense their characters might be in love). There were editing problems that made me wonder if the behind-the-scenes professionals really cared about the work product.

Celeste O’Connor was really good for a young actress and the scenes of her subconsciously trying to hurt Pugh’s Allison were creatively written and well acted.

However, the reason to see this movie is for the scenes where Pugh and Freeman appear together as the only two actors on screen. These three or four scenes saved the entire film. They were the best written exchanges and really engaging. I wanted to hit rewind to watch these scenes again.

Overall, I think it’s a C+ movie but it was relaxing Sunday night entertainment. If you can hang through the problems, you’ll see some great scenes when Pugh and Freeman are on screen together.

reply

an accurate review. i think the directing of the film was bad, but after about a half hour in i was engaged and couldnt stop watching. without morgan freeman this would have been trash.

the car crash thing really made me mad. there was the slow movement, the city worker at fault, her looking at her phone, it was all out of wack. i almost stopped the movie right there but it got a little better after.

5/10 i think

reply

I agree with 5/10. The car crash was really out of whack. It looked like bumper to bumper traffic that could never produce a collision of the magnitude to kill two people. The crash needed to be dramatic and provide a better sense of the shocking loss. It could have been a metaphor for her life. But without a dramatic collision, it was hard to accept her falling into the depth of depression and addiction from what, devastating guilt from looking down at her phone? What’d you think of the scene where the Alcoholics Anonymous counselor decides to drive a drunk Daniel to the confrontation at the end? Just hard to comprehend that would ever happen

reply

i cant see him being furious at someone and getting drunk before a confrontation. its just not a response people have if you know you're about to get into some shit.

as for her driving him there, that is slightly more believable if they thought she was in danger. the AA chick clearly thought he was capable of harming someone, so a 911 call was probably the better choice. i could see it happening though, with all the uncertainties and things happening fast.

it did seem like he got drunk way too fast, though.

reply

I thought the same. Though that backhoe weighed several tons, 20 mph is just not enough speed to cause a fatality in a modern car.

Then we got a slo-mo of the actual impact showing airbag deployment. That removed any doubt.

Also, though she was partially at fault for illegally using her phone, that backhoe driver had no business popping out into her lane like that. I think of how easily that could happen every time I’m made to go by those cones with heavy equipment moving inches away — a frequent occurrence in my state.

reply

Opening scenes didn’t work for me at all and really turned me off. No chemistry, I agree. Once the crash hit things changed quick.

reply

It’s unfortunate that a movie and story with so much potential just didn’t quite hit the mark. It left me thinking it could have really been great with a few changes. Fate, remorse and a second chance are great themes and I did feel Pugh was the right actress for it had it been done better.

reply

Pugh couldn’t have been better.
Star rising.

reply