Self Reliance

I enjoyed watching this movie. The premise of the main plot was very intriguing and I enjoyed watching it develop. The cast was exceptional and conveyed their emotions in a very real way. Jake Johnson - the protagonist and creator of the film - is hilarious and obviously Andy Samberg is as well. Anna Kendrick, unsurprisingly, played her character practically flawlessly. The same is true for basically all of the other actors involved. My main critique concerns the structure of the movie. I feel the movie was cut a bit too short. The introduction could have been stretched out a bit more and the ending could have been more thoroughly explored. I liked how the reality of the situation was left a bit open to interpretation, but it did result in an uneasy and perhaps unsettling ending, in my opinion. I think I - like other viewers possibly - was expecting some sort of "plot twist" or major reveal. It felt a bit empty without a significant climax moment. Overall, I enjoyed the movie. I laughed and found myself at the end of my seat throughout the entirety of the film. It was mainly the ending that left me feeling as if something was missing.

I recommend this movie to anyone who might enjoy a mild thriller with comedic aspects. It was a nice watch, just a bit odd. Decently thought-provoking as well, which I appreciated.

Imagine you're alone and a chance is then presented, to make a million bucks just for 30 days tormented, there's a caveat or two, on occasion you'll be blue, quite often feel frustrated, and abandoned, discontented. On your journey you'll encounter those who may become your friends, as well as those quite keen to bring existence to an end, there'll be those living in shadows, impersonators in costumed clothes, but as the film continues, you will question, what's been penned. As like me you may sit static without laughing or a smirk, as the humour is quite lacking and poor Tommy is a berk, although you may feel sympathetic, to his plight that's quite prophetic, alas the value it delivers, is most likely to just irk.

Self Reliance is a fun debut directing gig from Jake Johnson. Johnson takes an interesting premise and brings some good moments to it although not quite sticking the landing.

The movie could have went in a more intriguing direction by giving it more of a horror vibe when the attacks happen. You never get the sense Johnson is in any real danger.

The real heart of the movie is between Johnson and Anna Kendrick who's easy chemistry together makes the movie. The stuff featuring Kendrick are the movies standout scenes.

There are some nice cameos from Andy Samberg & Christopher Lloyd. Ultimately it is Jake Johnson's charm that carries the movie but this still feels like a missed opportunity. Recommendable.

I had some trepidations about this movie, but the premise of this quirky story made me curious AND I like the actor Jake Johnson, so my hopes were high, BUT...

The bad: the story ended up being completely silly and void of ANY originality. Just lame. Not credible. Let alone be anything near suspenseful or mysterious.

Well perhaps the acting was any good? NOPE. The jokes? NOPE. Let me think if there is anything left that might be positive to say. I am sorry, I am lost for words...

I love Jake Johnson as the actor, but he directed (debut) AND wrote AND produced this movie, while he had no earlier experience in directing at all and he basically made a uneventful tedious flop.

This movie had a lot of premise, great actors, great idea and actually decent execution. The problem is that while 30% of the first part of the movie will hook you, the last 70% will bore you so much you might even get up and walk out of the sofa. I understand that that was both directed and written by Jake Johnson, but if he had more input from another writer, this could have become a cult classic. Instead we're left with something that feels unfinished, lost, confused and plain frankly, not a comedy and more of a "thriller". If they had more ideas to the story, more characters and more drama, this could have been a golden nugget.