Reverse the Curse

This film is about three people brought together by one thing, impending death. Marty (David Duchovny) has a fatal illness. Marty's only child, Ted (Logan Marshall-Green) a Peanut slinger. Mariana (Stephanie Beatriz) is Marty's 'Death Nurse' someone who helps make a persons last days a little better. Ted decides to also make Marty's brief future a little better as well. I really enjoyed this film that Duchovny wrote and directed as well. It will make you laugh, feel good, and at times shed a tear or two. The supporting cast was strong as well with Pamela Adlon (Blauner), Jason Beghe (Tango Sam), Evan Handler (Benny), Santo Fazio (Shticker) and Daphne Rubin-Vega (Eva). This film will definitely make you decide to call your Dad especially if you haven't done so in a while.

I finally got to see this movie and it did not disappoint!! From the start and throughout the whole movie I found myself laughing out loud which not many movies make me do that these days. Duchovny also had cool shots and cut aways that added cool elements to the story telling. I loved Duchovny and Logan Marshall together and thought they had seamless chemistry. Stephanie is phenomenal in this and the three really balance each other out very well. The parts that were meant to be touching were and compared to the book I think he did a pretty good job of translating it to a movie. I laughed, I cried and then I laughed some more. David really put his heart into this film and role and it shows!

Reverse the Curse was a film I desperately wanted to love. I'm a huge fan of David Duchovny's acting, writing, & directing, and have read the source material (his own "Bucky F*ing Dent" novel) from which this is based. Sadly, Reverse the Curse didn't emotionally connect with me in the same way the book did.

For a very basic overview, this movie tells the story of Ted Fullilove (Logan Marshall-Green)--a 1970s Yankee Stadium peanut-vendor who gets the dreaded call that his quasi-estranged, Red Sox-rooting father Marty (Duchovny) is dying. As the two awkwardly reconnect, they discover that a shared interest in baseball may help the relationship flourish in its final weeks.

In a sense, Reverse the Curse is a relatively straightforward "strained father/son relationship" flick. As writer, director, & producer, Duchovny definitely puts his unique comedic/philosophical touches on the material and one can tell he is genuinely trying to create real emotion (even often through the lens of Californication-like comedy).

But overall, the experience largely comes up short in two distinct categories:

First, this is a period piece (1970s) that doesn't seem like it whatsoever. Perhaps budgetary restrictions are the main culprit, but I never felt absorbed into 70s culture like I should have been.

Also--and most egregious--is the puzzling lack of baseball content in the film. While by no means a "baseball movie" at heart, Reverse the Curse puts forth surprisingly little mention of baseball whatsoever until the final act. In the novel, I remember the Marty/Ted relationship being defined by baseball and more material of Teddy at Yankee Stadium. That isn't the case in the cinematic version--and I think it is sorely missed.

As such, I have to cap my ranking of Reverse the Curse at 6/10 stars. Though featuring a strong setup and genuine heart behind the entire project, it seems a bit too much was "lost in translation" in the book-to-screen adaptation process.

I was lucky enough to catch this movie at the Glasgow film festival. The basic story is an estranged son comes back into his fathers life after a cancer diagnosis. It sounds like it could be a little depressing, quite the opposite. It has many light hearted moments,and some down right hilarious ones. The theatre was laughing practically throughout the entire movie. David & Logan have great chemistry and work well as the father son duo with a matching sarcastic humour. The more dramatic scenes are brilliant too, they appear more toward the end. The movie has a lot to offer, I laughed, I cried, I left the cinema completely satisfied. A Beautifully charming heart warming little movie. Well done to David for the great writing, and Logan Marshall-Green for always delivering a steller performance .

I found myself bored through much of this movie. I thought it moved at a snail's pace and was filled with too much meaningless dialogue. In addition to those issues, I was thrown off by the unbelievability of a central plot point, a hoax perpetrated by an adult son to lift the spirits of his dying father, a diehard Boston Red Sox fan played by David Duchovny. I almost threw in the towel on this one, but I'm glad I hung in there because I very much enjoyed the final twenty minutes or so. A movie's ending can greatly affect your overall experience, and in this case, it made Reverse the Curve at least a worthwhile watch for me.