Okay...here goes. This certainly wasn't the worst movie I've ever seen. But it certainly wasn't the best, either. Essentially, it fell short. And that's the problem -- when a movie tries to tackle something as fundamental as death, when it falls short it's much more noticeable. And while this film had its moments, it never really came together. It relied too heavily on sentimentality, rather than really carving out any new emotional ground. Consequently, at times it felt contrived, at times it dragged, and the ending just seemed to paint a nice little smiley face, without ever really resolving anything. I expected something much more powerful; instead, it was like that feeling you get a couple of hours after eating a Chinese dinner (i.e. not really satisfied). Or maybe a better example would be those game shows that show a person inside a booth with lots of money blowing around. You can see that there's the potential for the contestant to get very rich, but most of the money remains just beyond his/her reach.
Part of the problem is that the main character has lived a relatively superficial life to begin with. And the majority of the film is taken up showing how she has a difficult time dealing honestly with her own emotions, coupled with a general lack of insight into her own psyche. So it's no surprise then that the film, which is a direct reflection of her own thinness of character, feels weak and underdeveloped. Her generally upbeat, flippant attitude, mixed in with a dash of anger here and there, is not enough to allow the film to succeed as a comedy or as a drama. Like its main character, the film can't quite figure out what it is or where it should go or how it should get there. And to expect everything to be tied up in a nice, neat little bow in the end, simply because she decided to have an upbeat funeral, or because her father said "I love you", or because her previously allergic mother agreed to take her dog, is expecting way too much from the viewer to fill in the pieces that the film failed to do on its own.
6/10
Part of the problem is that the main character has lived a relatively superficial life to begin with. And the majority of the film is taken up showing how she has a difficult time dealing honestly with her own emotions, coupled with a general lack of insight into her own psyche. So it's no surprise then that the film, which is a direct reflection of her own thinness of character, feels weak and underdeveloped. Her generally upbeat, flippant attitude, mixed in with a dash of anger here and there, is not enough to allow the film to succeed as a comedy or as a drama. Like its main character, the film can't quite figure out what it is or where it should go or how it should get there. And to expect everything to be tied up in a nice, neat little bow in the end, simply because she decided to have an upbeat funeral, or because her father said "I love you", or because her previously allergic mother agreed to take her dog, is expecting way too much from the viewer to fill in the pieces that the film failed to do on its own.
6/10