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JosephHBresett
Reviews
All Summers End (2017)
Depressing story with great acting
Let me start out by saying I am a HUGE romance fan. Especially with stories about young love. Breaking rules, defying parents, all those cliched romance tropes. When I saw the trailer for this one, I was genuinely looking forward to it. I thought it was pretty original for the main character to not really defy his parents but his best friends with falling in love with his love interest. The only thing that worried me was that it contained the whole "liar revealed" cliche that I just can't stand. Having seen it now, it's actually worse than I thought. First of all, his friends are CLEARLY bad influencers and he seems so different from them that it's a wonder why he hangs out with them at all. Then they decide to play this juvenile prank of snatch and run where they steal people's property from their houses and end up getting his love interest's brother killed. He tries to do the sensible thing and stay with him and possibly get help but his so-called "friends" convince him once again to just ditch him. Then he starts getting cozy with the female lead and it was nothing short of frustrating. The whole time I was practically screaming at the screen wanting him to tell her the truth about her brother but of course he never does until towards the end. It makes it hard to get behind the chemistry and love that they share because he's lying to her. And it just makes him look like a terrible person for getting close to her. Then his friends decide to have a redemption arc which the film clearly tries hard to give them but they've been such asses throughout the film that I just couldn't care less. But probably the most confusing part is that by the very end of the film we see him as an adult, now apparently married with a son. And for some reason he's still thinking about his first love. What does it matter at that point? He's years past it and he's apparently gotten over it because he now has a family. How do you think they would feel if they knew you were still thinking about your first love? On the up side, the acting is absolutely amazing and the actors really committed to it. So sadly I'll have to give this one a thumbs down, so to speak. Should have been better, had potential, but couldn't escape being boring and frustrating.
Plus One (2019)
A serviceable film with familiar beats and a screwed up view of love
A film about two friends since college who agree to go to each of their relative's weddings as a plus one to help each other deal with it. He has issues with his dad getting married to a younger woman and she is going through a breakup. And that's pretty much all there is to the story.
Right off the bat, I could tell the two leads were a little obnoxious and not all that likeable. But as the film goes, they grow on you. (which I'm not sure is a good thing) I would say, for the most part, the chemistry between them is good. BUT, I would say that it's a little TOO good. Meaning that at first they seem better as a brother/sister relationship. And when they start getting romantic, it kind of comes out of nowhere and feels a bit weird. Kind of like a spur of the moment kind of thing. But then they decide to become a couple and then we have to have that whole contrived argument scene where they split up only to get back together by the end. And honestly, I couldn't really tell what the problem was. All I could gather was that he suddenly had commitment issues, he was afraid of hurting her like her ex-boyfriend, something along those lines. And it honestly felt like it came out of nowhere. He seemed just fine minutes before, being all lovey dovey with her. What was it about her that made him suddenly have doubts? Also, I kind of don't really agree with the idea of love and marriage this movie seems to have. I know it was trying to say that marriage isn't perfect and that love is messy. But the movie does it in a more flippant kind of way. Basically presenting it in a way that says "no one is really 'the one' so marry them and see what happens." And I think that's kind of a passive way to look at it. I believe love and marriage CAN be perfect and that two people CAN be soul mates. And a lot of people ARE certain about the person they're with. What matters most is how you treat each other and that you can be yourselves around each other. Not just live with what you've got and say "I do.". Unless it's an ARRANGED marriage.
So mostly I would say that this is a pretty formulaic romcom. But it does have good moments and has a cute romance in it. Stream it on Hulu.