iMordecai

Saw this as a preview in Boca Raton, FL on Nov 14, 2022.

The director made some very charming opening remarks, telling the story of how the film came to be, customer service at Cinemark was top quality with free popcorn and bottled water.

Then the movie began....

Judd Hirsch and Carol Kane need to tone down those accents as they were caricatured to the point of sometimes being unintelligible. At some point realism has to be sacrificed for the sake of the making the movie understandable. Hirsch's character also does some stuff that so contradicts what is established like leaving his wife alone for hours after he preaches the whole movie about his irresponsible son.

Some admittedly funny stuff was buried in an avalanche of sub-plots and other threads that went nowhere. (100 year old lady reminding us of Holocaust, a character with a shady past, fixing a broken shower, the put-upon next door neighbor, etc.) I assume they were supposed to be part of a larger statement but the director and editor just couldn't juggle these into a coherent whole and what should have been a simple, charming story bogs down in sit-com level dramatics and feel-good moments.

Except for Sean Astin (gained a lot of weight looking terrible in shirts that are too tight for his frame and an awful hairpiece) the acting is very amateurish: Stephanie J Block (Broadway star) is so flat and bored in her delivery you'd think she couldn't wait for her paycheck so she could leave, the young lady playing the leading role of Nina is so inexperienced she looks terrified in every scene.

The writer/director made it clear it was his first movie having had absolutely no experience in either shorts films or television...and it shows.

The cast is perfect in this beautiful, heartfelt and vivacious story. Judd and Carole are epic together.

Highly recommend for the depth, character ensemble, and the unforgettable story attached.

Based on a true story, it captures every moment carefully and you can see how much care was put into it.

I absolutely loved the animation sprinkled in- how did such a layer of depth to an already deep story

this is such a real story that many people can relate to.

The beautiful scenery is another added layer to the aesthetics- I seriously love Carole Kane in this so much! Legend!!

Great watch !! X.

I went to see iMordecai with my parents who are in their 70's. We all laughed, teared up at times and related to the movie and its characters in different ways. The cast was very impressive. Judd Hirsch and Carol Kane have always been a dynamic duo. Sean Asten is incredibly talented and the actress that played Nina has tremendous potential.

Marvin Samel who wrote, produced and directed this film, based on a personal story, made opening remarks before the film started. He is incredibly likable, and his passion for telling his father's story is moving.

Overall, I think that this is a film that most anyone can relate to a subset of the characters, it's a feel good story, and it's a good choice to watch with your parents (or kids).

I really wanted to like this film, but it was just awful. I do not understand the high rating for this at all. Full of unlikable stereotypes, this film was hard to sit through. I feel bad saying that because this is based on a true story, but their was no real depth to any of the main characters. I have always adored Carol Kane but her character was played as a caricature. The father was kind of a jerk. I felt like there was not a lot of love in this family, just a lot of annoyance. I would have liked to have seen more in the relationship between Mordecai and Nina...she was the best-played character in my opinion and her scenes made the movie for me. Her story and the unraveling of her family's secret was interesting. But overall, although the subject matter was interesting on the surface, I just did not feel any connection to any of the characters. The best scene is the clip that is used for the trailer, with the young man Jared giving Mordecai a set of Beats to listen to music on his iPhone. The actor playing Jared stole that scene. Overall, sitting through this film was not an enjoyable experience.

The film opens with a unique animation of the upbringing of Mortecai and moves into the story of a relationship with his family. I really appreciated the methods utilized to tell a story that could have been a heavy theme, but was produced in a fairly light-hearted and comical way. It was refreshing, funny and had many touching moments. The story turns when Mordecai found that technology can open up a world that someone with his personality would create the antics of maybe a teenager finding a hotrod with the keys left in it...Too funny. The acting was fantastic. I thought Carol Kane's (Fela) jealous reaction to Mordecai talking to his iphone (siri) was just spot on for example. It was also fun to see Sean Astin step outside of his previous roles and become a family man and cigar company owner. Absolutely a joy to witness.