Someone else noted that About Alex seems similar to other (better?) films, such as The Big Chill, or The Giving Tree. It is also strangely similar to I Melt With You. Ironically, the description of About Alex mentions it as "for the Facebook/Twitter generation." That much is true, if the description is referring for the tendency of the "Facebook/Twitter generation" to ripoff older films and repackage them as something new and daring.
shareWell the fact that it's branded "for the Facebook/Twitter generation" means they obviously know it's not groundbreaking. Have the film makers said this film is new and daring? I doubt it, it's just a movie they wanted to make.
People throw around the term "rip off" way too much. For it to be a true rip off the characters would have to be incredibly similar, because that's what these films are all about, the characters, not the story.
The only passing resemblance to I Melt With You it has is due to them both having at least a passing resemblance to The Big Chill
shareI don't know, man. Pretty sure all of the characters in About Alex make it to the end of the film, unlike the utterly horrible film "I Melt With You".
Everyone gets that it is similar to The Big Chill, hell it is described in just those words in the damn trailer.
Honestly, I enjoyed it. I was always a fan of The Big Chill, and I am 29, so seeing an updated version was good. The Big Chill had the great advantage of a masterful soundtrack, but the storylines and character arcs in About Alex were, in my opinion, better. Just my opinion.