Art Less

Let's start with the bad and move on to the good. I am just going to flat out say it. The writing and performances are cringe worthy at times. Examples are as follows. The grocery store worker guy was written so awfully that when he was checking out the old man's grocery's talking about the food and weather, I cringed, no word of a lie. The shoplifting girl was not good either in my opinion. The character made no sense. At the beginning of the episode, she was a rebellious and cocky shoplifter, and at the end, she was a nervous girl trying out for a musical? What? Some of her line delivery, not sure if it is her performance, the writing, or both, just was bad. The worst part of the episode was the director of the musical. He downright insulted a child using foul language for no reason! He was so cringe worthy and absolutely awful. He made me almost turn the episode off. Other than that, the other acting was pretty strong, the cinematography was really good, especially the impressive bicycle scene and it was an overall fun time! I just could not get past the three issues I stated earlier. The writing is fine at times and at other times atrocious. Most performances are decent, some good. But some I could not get past. I hope they will impress me in the next episode! the effort is clearly shown and it is obvious that the people behind this project were very passionate.

If you're looking for an exciting new show to check out this fall, you needn't look any further than with the Art Less. The writing is of a delicate poignancy which is balanced by its humorous wit, and is delivered skillfully by the mostly talented cast. Each scene seems to be the design of great filmmaking and directing. It's no doubt that an immense amount of work went into the whole process.

While this show does shine with the promise of even greater things to come, there do exist some imperfections. The audio (especially the grocery store scenes) appear to be troubled and at times aggravating in how they negate from the whole experience. The one absolutely dreadful actor who plays the character Adam appears to be stuck in doing his best "emo Woody Allen" shtick. In the more dramatic scenes he awkwardly mumbles and stumbles as well as fumbles over his lines. It is obvious that this is his first time doing any acting. Maya Daley, who portrays the character of Samantha, shows a veteran strength in her performance, and is amongst the better talents of the cast. The girl portraying the character of Emily exhibits a very boisterous attitude that's over the top. I do not believe this is the fault of bad writing or direction, but that zealous and loud seems to be the only role emotion or role the actress, Jerusha Wright, can pull off.

In short, your Fall season would not be complete without checking out this unforgettable show. It's a very thoughtful yet irreverently crass depiction of Millennial youth coming of age in the American Northeast.

Art Less caught my eye due to the fast paced, well cut, and funny trailers. The series is created and co-directed by Gabriel Fowler, who I was shocked to discover was sixteen whilst filming the project. It was certainly a 360 after his first short film, The Sniper, which was a heavy war drama. He's defiantly someone to keep on your radar.

As for the cast, there are some that show great talent, while others, in my opinion, are holding the series back from greatness. But due to the large cast I will only be covering the main characters in detail.

Alex Desjardin (Adam) who is arguably the star, doesn't play a role at all in the show. No, he became the character of Adam. As far as I can tell this is his first acting experience and it is quite the debut. With a stuttery and shy performance that will grow on you over the course of the show. He is sure to become the die-hard of Art Less.

Maya Jennings Daley (Samantha) plays Adam's co-worker at the grocery store. She actually saved me from turning off the pilot episode. Daley's sly and cunning, yet also sweet and philosophical outlook on life is the basis for some of the show's most memorable quotes and conversations with Adam.

Gabriel Fowler, who along with directing and writing also has a large role in the show. He gives a very strong performance as the all around pretty much average character of Josh. Now Josh being average is in no way a bad thing. I will say that the character does feel a bit mixed throughout. Going from level headed to a full blown pot head in the matter of an episode or two. Just something to watch out for in the future.

Jerusha Wright, who plays the role of Emily is at her best serviceable and at worst cringe worthy. Her loud and often overacted mannerisms actually annoyed me. Though the character does have a lot of potential and I hope to see it expanded and grown should there be more episodes.

Shea Coughlin (Erin) does a fine job. I couldn't figure out why I was uninterested in her character, but that was just it her character is, for the most part, uninteresting. It's the kind of character that is meant to cause scenes, not have a significant part or surprising arc in them. This may also be due in part to the bad writing. However, I find this unlikely as writers Gabriel Fowler, Alex Desjardin, Andrew Cohen (co-director episodes 2/3) and Faith Willett (pilot only) have brought each of these characters to life with their funny and dramatic, yet at times smart writing.

Other than that the majority of the cast did well enough, though there are a few standouts. Including but no limited to Timothy Mulverhill, Joseph DeVellis, Adam Alexander Maitland, and Steven Manzino.

One aspect the show falters in at times is audio. A few times in the first and second episode the sound, though passable, brings down the value of the production.

Think clerks, but in color. So, basically clerks. However, it is intercut with many other story lines to keep the show fast paced and interesting. Be sure to check out Art Less!

Wonderful piece! Amazing cast and crew, so much hard work and effort was put into this production and it really shows! Incredibly impressive for the age group and budget and the writing is pure gold. Despite the expected hiccups director Gabriel Fowler was able to create a truly unique production with a really wonderful result. Art Less is sure to capture any viewer's attention and keep it! If you are looking for the next 'It' show, created by talented young minds and hand crafted through plenty of sweat, blood, and tears, Art Less is the show for you. I absolutely CANNOT wait for the rest of the season to be released and look forward to being wowed again and again by this amazing series.

I would like to start this review off with me saying I HIGHLY ENJOYED THIS WEBSERIES, so I'm not trying to dog on it, but it's going to sound like I am. I would first like to address the issues with the web series that I found to.. stick out like a sore thumb.

Issues: Well I believe the first and main problem overall was audio, which can be fixed in the future IF a second season ends up being made. At times you couldn't hear what someone was saying or if you could, the sound was just REALLY muffled, in which this was distracting and even at times becoming aggravating. To fix this, I would record the audio separately through another device to get a more clear sounding final product.

Another issue that needs to be addressed is actually two issues put into one. These issues being (some) writing and (some) acting. The writing felt very bad and extremely cheesy at times as if the script was written in a day. The reason I included acting in this portion is because the writing felt cheesy a lot of the times, but only due to the poor acting of some of the characters. The writing could have been saved at times if there was a better delivery, but sometimes atrocious writing can't be saved no matter what.

The final issue I want to address is one story point in general, in which I will not spoil for anyone viewing this. The build up to this point was awesome, but ultimately fell to be pointless. When building up to this, there is a conflict that isn't even solved until the final episode, which is good, but when the time came for the build up to pay off, the result just ended within... maybe a minute at most? Which made the whole build up feel pointless, but enjoyable nonetheless.

The good things: The characters were written amazingly with each and every character feeling relatable in some way or another. The chemistry between these characters brings a feeling of warmness to this web series. A very close friendship between all of these teens will surely bring some joy to your heart. Their situations along with their wants and needs are relatable in a sense, or at least that is how I felt when I watched this web series.

The pacing of the show was on par, being a 5 episode web series and while there were some cases where the episode felt rushed, most of the time the pacing was okay.

Most of all, the story did keep me intrigued all the way through and I ended up wanting more by the time the show was over. With that, I call the show a success!