MovieChat Forums > Why Stop Now? (2012) Discussion > Description misleading *spoilers*

Description misleading spoilers

posted 12 years ago by terrencepatrix
8 replies | jump to latest

The movie synopsis that Tracy Morgans character kidnaps anyone and they have a series of zany crazy adventures...is not this movie.

For starters, there is no kidnapping. Jesse's character needs something from Tracy and has to exchange a favor in order to get it via offering him a ride. The "crazy" adventure is...they talk to a Hispanic drug dealer in a restaurant. For like 5 minutes. Then there's some piano playing, quite a bit of Eisenberg throwing weird, awkward and out of place vicious temper tantrums at a wedding...and then they part ways. Honestly Tracy Morgan's character, while he does have screen time, is fairly passive throughout this movie.

This movie sort of qualifies as a dark, dramatic, slice of life, comedy. For me there was far too much drama and slice of life compared to the comedy. I thought Eisenbergs character was completely unlikable and frankly I didn't identify with him at all.

This movie is really pretty short on plot and character development in the long run. We're supposed to emphasize with Eisenbergs character either through his verbal and physical interactions with those around him and the subtext between him and his mother. But he's so damn twitchy and aggressive this whole movie it comes off as irritating. I didn't want to emphasize with him, I just wanted him to stop acting like such a douche.

In the end the movie synopsis should be "Awkward white piano prodigy has to buy drugs for his mom while he shouts and twitches at everyone for 1 hour 45 minutes. Then plays piano".

As for Tracy Morgan and Isiah Whitlock's performances, I found them to be the only comedic elements of the movie. Their scenes were typically pretty well acted and amusing, Morgan definitely pulled it pretty far back for this film, which was actually kinda nice.

Personally for my tastes...I give this movie a 5/10. Most of that is for Sprinkles and Black honestly.

[–] SilverIce92 12 years ago

Jesse Eisenberg's character is an alcoholic. He has short attention span along with a bad temper. This is a story about the relationship between a mother and her son. This is a family that is ravaged by substance abuse and Jesse's character is trying to get out of it. This is very much a dramedy about a family with substance abuse problem. Personally I love this movie and I give this one a 8/10. The dysfunctional relationship between Penny and Eli is really intense.

[–] terrencepatrix 12 years ago

The story is a train wreck.

His piano audition is the most important thing to him, so what does he do? He tries to force his mom into rehab 2 hours before his audition.

Why the hell didn't he do it one day before? Why couldn't he do it after? Why was there only ONE drug dealer to go to? It could have been any drugs, he could have gotten her blitzed on cough medicine probably. Like it's that tough to score a joint. Oh but no, it's far easier to go coordinate a major drug deal.

I understood that he's a young, troubled, alcoholic largely due to his upbringing, his mother, and overall situation in life. I understand that this makes his character erratic, prone to outbursts, and impulsive. I understood his relationship with his mother.

I simply didn't like the way it was portrayed or acted. To me the acting was so over the top I felt it detracted from the story. The mother was just terribly unbelievable. The angry, college age, alcoholic son I could identify with moreso, but he was such an insufferable douche to everyone that I found myself waiting for his scenes to just be over. These traits should be left to subtle subtext that slowly unfolds throughout the movie allowing us to get to know these characters. Instead it's introduced to us through constant screaming and erratic hand movements. We're given the entire plot, premise, and characters immediately...then we're simply dragged around watching what they do. Character growth was introduced as a way to continue the plot as opposed to a character naturally evolving.

One review I saw said that when Tracy Morgan is the sane one in a movie then something is probably wrong. That's my issue with this movie, the story and characters are flawed from a writing standpoint. Stupid and improbable works in certain scripts but only if the actors can really portray it as chaos or random, to me it was just so blatantly planned out I didn't feel I was watching a real family, I felt like I was watching actors.

[–] SilverIce92 12 years ago

What do you mean the story is a train wreck? The story is beautiful.

Why did he force his mom into rehab 2 hours before? 2 hours is not that bad if you just going to sent someone off to a rehab center. There is no way he knows this is going to happen. I really don't see the problem with his initial planning. BTW, if you haven't notice, he is a train wreck himself so smart planning may not be on his agenda.

Why was there only ONE drug dealer to go to? Sprinkles is Penny's drug dealer and it is a small town. Penny mentioned that she prefer him because he is "harmless". It is not like Eli knows any other drug dealer...it is his first time dealing with one. Do you work in rehab center? Because as far from what I know from the movie, you are tested against the drug that you have trouble with. If I can get admited into a rehab just by cough medication, then a lot more people can get into it.

I like the way he portrayed a drunk train wreck...almost tragic. To him, his job is just to drop off his mother so he can put his sister in someone else's care (maybe his aunt). His entire behavior tells me that he is nervous about the audition and he just want to get a move on. Anything happened after the rehab incident (drug pickup) was not on his agenda. His short temper and eratic behavior shows that he also has a problem, which in this case, alcohol. Remember that the teacher smell alcohol on him when he dropped off his little sister? This family is dysfunctional and this kind of behaviour is a result of years of mistrust and failed promises. His mother Penny is a good mother and like her son, she is an artist who use substance abuse. She trys to be noble and good but she mess up way too many times for her son to trust her. Penny is not bad but her habit drove this family apart, may even drove her son to alcoholism.

I'm not saying this movie is perfect but I do love this movie. I guess we do have different opinion on this.

[–] terrencepatrix 12 years ago

Fair enough, it's just my personal opinion, I do like the entire cast of this movie, I just found too many flaws to find this movie more than passable.

I've been through and around plenty of addicts and alcoholics so maybe that's why I found it so hard to believe. The way things go in this movie just aren't based in the realm of reality, it's seriously not that difficult to go and get drugs. Also people in general don't act like anyone in this film at all. I understand it's a movie and that requires viewers to shelve their skepticism to a certain degree, but when a topic is presented somewhat seriously while being so unbelievable I find it more irksome than entertaining.

That's more about how Eisenberg's and his mothers characters acted. I found the other performances entertaining, but to me I could tell they were playing the role of zany drug addict mom and brooding alcoholic college age young adult. To me it felt like I could see them acting, as opposed to living the character, which took some of the enjoyment out of this movie.

[–] SilverIce92 12 years ago

I understand what you mean. But I also think different people react to substance abuse differently. My grandfather who passed away few years ago was an alcoholic. I recognize a lot of Eli's behaviour similar to my grandfather. The short temper really hits home and it was not a good memory. I really think IFC should advertise this movie as a dramedy...lean towards drama, because I think I cried more than I laughed.

[–] lulupalooza 9 years ago

@terrencepatrix : Well-stated!

"Don't get chumpatized!" - The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)

[–] lulupalooza 9 years ago

Okay, I'll buy that for a moment. BUT...

Why was it so critical for Jesse's character to get his mother into rehab before auditioning for a prestigious music school just a couple hours later?

Jesse's character acted with little regard for consequence and with ridiculous desperation, as if there would be no way for him to audition unless his mother was in rehab first...like it was a requirement somehow. It makes no sense to me why he would put his future at stake for something that could've been dealt with later.

It seems like a disingenuous premise in order to force a thin plot. I am stumped by this oddball flick.

"Don't get chumpatized!" - The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)

[–] fluffchop 8 years ago

My rule of thumb - "drama" in the IMDb categories indicates a snooze-fest.

They often put "drama, comedy". That just means it's a snooze-fest but they're trying to trick you into watching it. You will spend the whole film waiting for the comedy part which never arrives.

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