girlgeek Reviews

Her Minor Thing (2005)

All in all, just OK.

[5/10 · 12 June 2005]

I saw this movie at its debut at SIFF. I was very interested in seeing this independently produced movie. It was OK. There were some parts that had you laughing out loud. It's the type of movie that you may want to watch on TV for free on a rainy day. The cinematography and production value were good for an independent but the plot was disjointed, the characters a bit 2-dimensional and the story unconvincing. Also there was something about the pace of editing that felt rushed, like scenes slapped together rather than a story being told. I normally don't even notice that type of thing. I understand that a romantic comedy is supposed to be light and take you away, but I believe the best ones make you feel a real connection between yourself and the characters to make it all believable and enjoyable. It wasn't there for me. The acting on the part of the female lead was mediocre and not terribly convincing--does she love either of these men? Is she disappointed or actually hurt by any of the situations which were supposed to be affecting her? For me there were just too many times that the movie lost a personal connection due to acting or pacing and took me out of just enjoying the story. The character acting for Rachel Dratch and Michael Weatherly stole the show. They were both excellent. All in all...just OK. Perhaps not the movie that would appeal largely to the film festival crowd-so perhaps I am not the market for this.

Sweet Home Alabama (2002)

Sweet my a$$-typical Hollywood schlock

[1/10 · 10 August 2004]

How could anyone like this movie? I avoided this movie because I thought it would be merely fluff, but a girlfriend brought it over for movie night, so I decided to give it a try. While I generally love Reese Witherspoon in many movies (Election and Freeway are awesome) neither she nor the other good actors could rescue the bad story, two-dimensional characters and poor writing in this trite movie. C'mon gals, do women really act like this? Would you treat good people who love you like that? No way. Why do male screenwriters decide to portray us like this anyway? At the end of the movie I said out loud, "This must have been written by a man". Sure enough: (Story By, Screenplay By, Directed By) all men.

**SPOILER** Additionally, I am getting sick and tired of the leave-them-at-the-alter-but-we-can-still-be-friends? overused storyline. Why is it considered romantic to treat another good person who loves you in such a cruel manner? It seems that disregard for kindness, decency and public humiliation is the best romantic story in today's vapid Hollywood boardrooms. This woman is rude and cruel to good people. She says and treats people horribly and we are supposed to believe that if she says "I'm sorry y'all" or gets a little weepy that this is good enough for 100% redemption? As a viewer, this was a hard pill to swallow. She lies to the man she loves in both cases; runs away when times are tough ("for good times and bad, til death do us part" yeah right); publicly humiliates her friends (several times); betrays confidences that in the deep south could mean life or death--Give me a break! I believe that you should be able to empathize with the protagonist, but I found that I hated her and the story. Why do we choose to be spoon-fed this insipid crap? I think that as moviegoers paying good money that we need to be a little more critical when a bad story, bad dialog and unbelievable situations arise in movies.