The first thing I noticed about this movie was that it is truly an ensemble piece, despite Emma Thompson and John Lithgow. A lot of characters get to shine, and they do. This alone is rare in a movie nowadays.
Do I care about late night talk show hosts? No. Couldn't care less. Except after 10 minutes of this movie, I did. I cared about ALL the characters. That's an impressive feat to pull off. Several movies I've seen this year were loved by the critics--but after putting in two hours, I couldn't care less if the characters lived or died. In this one, I cared.
Next, welcome back linear story! No skipping around in time. There's a beginning, a middle, and an end. Critics seem to hate that. I love it.
An essential for me is whimsy, or oddity, or something new that makes me laugh. Other reviewers are right: the story itself is a cliche. But they miss the point, which is "What has the writer (Mindy) done with that cliche to make it fresh?" And the answer is, "A lot." The dialog itself was clever and unexpected. The situations were clever. The twists were clever. See where this is going? It's a clever movie.
Do I care about late night talk show hosts? No. Couldn't care less. Except after 10 minutes of this movie, I did. I cared about ALL the characters. That's an impressive feat to pull off. Several movies I've seen this year were loved by the critics--but after putting in two hours, I couldn't care less if the characters lived or died. In this one, I cared.
Next, welcome back linear story! No skipping around in time. There's a beginning, a middle, and an end. Critics seem to hate that. I love it.
An essential for me is whimsy, or oddity, or something new that makes me laugh. Other reviewers are right: the story itself is a cliche. But they miss the point, which is "What has the writer (Mindy) done with that cliche to make it fresh?" And the answer is, "A lot." The dialog itself was clever and unexpected. The situations were clever. The twists were clever. See where this is going? It's a clever movie.