The Puffy Chair"Josh and Emily are in a relationship, but he can be inattentive and unromantic and she can shift her focus from small things to emotional issues in a moment. He invites her to drive from New York City to somewhere in Virginia to pick up a chair that he's bought on eBay for his father's birthday. On the way, he stops at his brother Rhett's, outside Philly, and invites him along. Josh tries to save money at a motel, has to negotiate with the seller of the chair and with an upholsterer, and faces tough questions from Emily. He calls her "Dude," he's moody, and it looks as if the relationship will end soon. Is there more than meets the eye here? How do people decide?"
1 Star
I wanted to like this movie SO much, I really did. It had a couple of the same actors of my new favorite TV show “The League”. It is also considered part of the new mumblecore movement which is predicated on the idea of filmmakers shying away from big studios and making the films they want to make, hopefully without compromise. No big studio, though, means no big money so you have entire productions being made for less than $5,000. All I can say it if you’re going to rely that heavily on the story because you can’t hide dazzle with amazing shots and special effects, then you better have a hell of a story or be able to write some amazing dialogue. Unfortunately this movie had neither.
Kevin Smith actually is the litmus test for this genre. He made his signature film “Clerks” for less than $5,000. The difference was that Smith is pretty damn good with dialogue and he made sure his actors stuck to the script. The Duplass brothers admitted that the story line was planned, but much of the dialogue was improvised. This really doesn’t work for a drama. Once in a while we see great comedy movies with a large degree of improvisation, but it’s just hard to create the same magic with drama.
The movie tried to be more than it actually was. It tried to come off as an in depth exploration of the relationships between fathers, sons, and girlfriends. Unfortunately, none of these attempts are developed enough to really be sustainable. The blatant attempts at humor feels forced and the characters are hard to get attached to. Josh’s brother (Rhett Wilkins) is the stereotypical detached stoner that is fun for 15 minutes, but makes you want to punch him in the temple after that. Josh’s girlfriend (played by Mark Duplass' real life wife Katie Aselton) finely dances that line between crazy/psycho/bitch and annoying as hell. And Josh (Mark Duplass) himself is just a lazy unfocused sack of shit who (and I don’t know why this bothered me so much) kept calling his girlfriend "dude".
I have to respect what young filmmakers are trying to do, but it also makes you appreciate the diamonds in the rough that are able to rise to the top and garner the appropriate attention. This movie ends very abruptly and leaves you scratching your head. Unfortunately, instead of leaving the viewer wanting more I found myself flipping to the other channel without much hesitation.
1 Star
I wanted to like this movie SO much, I really did. It had a couple of the same actors of my new favorite TV show “The League”. It is also considered part of the new mumblecore movement which is predicated on the idea of filmmakers shying away from big studios and making the films they want to make, hopefully without compromise. No big studio, though, means no big money so you have entire productions being made for less than $5,000. All I can say it if you’re going to rely that heavily on the story because you can’t hide dazzle with amazing shots and special effects, then you better have a hell of a story or be able to write some amazing dialogue. Unfortunately this movie had neither.
Kevin Smith actually is the litmus test for this genre. He made his signature film “Clerks” for less than $5,000. The difference was that Smith is pretty damn good with dialogue and he made sure his actors stuck to the script. The Duplass brothers admitted that the story line was planned, but much of the dialogue was improvised. This really doesn’t work for a drama. Once in a while we see great comedy movies with a large degree of improvisation, but it’s just hard to create the same magic with drama.
The movie tried to be more than it actually was. It tried to come off as an in depth exploration of the relationships between fathers, sons, and girlfriends. Unfortunately, none of these attempts are developed enough to really be sustainable. The blatant attempts at humor feels forced and the characters are hard to get attached to. Josh’s brother (Rhett Wilkins) is the stereotypical detached stoner that is fun for 15 minutes, but makes you want to punch him in the temple after that. Josh’s girlfriend (played by Mark Duplass' real life wife Katie Aselton) finely dances that line between crazy/psycho/bitch and annoying as hell. And Josh (Mark Duplass) himself is just a lazy unfocused sack of shit who (and I don’t know why this bothered me so much) kept calling his girlfriend "dude".
I have to respect what young filmmakers are trying to do, but it also makes you appreciate the diamonds in the rough that are able to rise to the top and garner the appropriate attention. This movie ends very abruptly and leaves you scratching your head. Unfortunately, instead of leaving the viewer wanting more I found myself flipping to the other channel without much hesitation.
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