This movie is an interesting study if you compare it to last year's "The Way Way Back" (2013)- it has almost identical premise, a dorky teenager going on summer holiday with family with a pushy/pissy older sister. Somehow along the line this movie just gets worse and worse, as nothing is happening and you are hoping something is going to happen and suddenly it is the end.
First, there is no character growth, the movie's protagonist is a "dork" that came of age, and you expect there is something happening in the plot that force this dorky teenager out of his comfort zone for some real character growth, and meet some mentoring type who pity him and take him under his or her wing. But instead the movie is just all fluff - its like the director decided to do a period piece (early 1980s) and forgot about the plot - its almost like he let these clueless actors to improvise on the spot - nothing is happening, nothing is structured, its all just bits and pieces that are not funny nor entertaining to watch, its worse than some of the historical documentary I have seen - at least these documentary are edited to appear interesting, and structured. this here, is not.
Susan Sarandon was hugely underused in this movie - this movie is 1 hour 30 minutes including the credits - and 1 hour in (2/3 of the movie) and her character is finally kicking into gear. The whole time I was waiting for her to do something like Sam Rockwell's character in "The Way Way Back" - and she only appeared briefly for less than a few seconds. So 1 hour in, she appeared for less than 10 minutes as the "mentor" to teach the main character from getting out of embarrassing situation - and she is gone again.
Overall, this movie is just a dull uninteresting tedious affair. Its just like watching paint dry.
I got an advice for you director Michael Tully - if you don't have an interesting story to tell, shut the hell up and stop wasting people's time!
First, there is no character growth, the movie's protagonist is a "dork" that came of age, and you expect there is something happening in the plot that force this dorky teenager out of his comfort zone for some real character growth, and meet some mentoring type who pity him and take him under his or her wing. But instead the movie is just all fluff - its like the director decided to do a period piece (early 1980s) and forgot about the plot - its almost like he let these clueless actors to improvise on the spot - nothing is happening, nothing is structured, its all just bits and pieces that are not funny nor entertaining to watch, its worse than some of the historical documentary I have seen - at least these documentary are edited to appear interesting, and structured. this here, is not.
Susan Sarandon was hugely underused in this movie - this movie is 1 hour 30 minutes including the credits - and 1 hour in (2/3 of the movie) and her character is finally kicking into gear. The whole time I was waiting for her to do something like Sam Rockwell's character in "The Way Way Back" - and she only appeared briefly for less than a few seconds. So 1 hour in, she appeared for less than 10 minutes as the "mentor" to teach the main character from getting out of embarrassing situation - and she is gone again.
Overall, this movie is just a dull uninteresting tedious affair. Its just like watching paint dry.
I got an advice for you director Michael Tully - if you don't have an interesting story to tell, shut the hell up and stop wasting people's time!