I really like Emmanuelle Chriqui. She's beautiful, charming, she's simply one of these actors i like to look for their movies. But just like any actor, especially the ones considered more in the "B-range", you are bound to stumble upon some very bad ones. Just like The Crow Wicked Prayer, this is one of them.
This star Justin Long as the main character "Chase", wich again is an actor i usually like, he has been in pretty good stuff, but also has some subpar movies as well.
I don't need to recap the whole synopsis but basically he meet and fall in love (i guess..) with Lucy played by Emmanuelle Chriqui, and he really love his job as some kind of museum administrator about a local battle that happened in their town. The mayor want to build a casino on said battlefield, and Chase get convinced by Lucy to make a campaign to oppose it.
The movie in my opinion should had been more of a pure comedy, as Chase and the mayor could had traded "shots" or something in hillarious ways, but i guess it tried to be a romcom? Yet the romance between the 2 leads shown no chemistry whatsoever, wich is odd when you have 2 pretty good actors.
First of all the movie take forever to get going. You have long drawn out scene of Justin Long's Chase doing his "things" and even when he eventually meet Lucy, they just hang out so casually.
You basically have a bunch of scenes that just feel awkward and are supposed to be "artsy" or i dunno, but ultimately the movie kinda "start" around 55 minutes in and become maybe a little less boring? Yet when you think this is finally leading somewhere, it takes a backstep and go back to a slow pace once again.
This honestly felt like a 20 minutes sitcom episode that was drawn out for and a hour and a half, but without the laughs and charm you would expect from it.
Its surprising, cause on top of the 2 leads, the mayor is played by Rob Corddry wich is hillarious in Hot Tub Time Machine and played in many other comedies. This script simply had nothing to offer.
Overall it just bored me all the way. I turned it off after 45 minutes and resumed it a few days later and was once again bored til the end. I finished it cause i finish the movies i start (and therefore can review the whole thing) and since i bough the DVD off Ebay... kinda felt i had to as i dropped about 12$ on this. Note that it was not available on any streaming platforms i know (in Canada) either as part of the sub or rent/buy.
Maybe because it is very indy... but indy or not, a movie need to entertain me. I am someone lenient with movies in general. I can excuse subpar action, cheap VFX or a lack of budget as a whole. I am also easily entertained by stories, wherever it is toilet humor comedy or direct to vod cheap action flicks. And i do love romcoms as well. So by giving this movie a 3 out of 10, you know this was boring. I think without Emmanuelle showing a bit of skin (no full nudity), it would even be a 2.
