Friended to Death

I watched this with very low expectations as there have been so few good movies in 2014. From the beginning I could tell that it was going to be better than this years calibre. No over the top American humour, good music and a thought provoking plot. The main character is nuanced and quite endearing without being too trite and emo. The clever writing gives the main characters depth and dimension.

The movie had the sweetness, sense of realiness and comedy of The Year of the Dog.

I will be watching this director's future work and happy to see a woman in the directors seat on this one!

I didn't even make it through the first hour of this terribly constructed attempt at comedy.

While the subject matter is relevant, I was expecting far more in depth exploration of how social medias such as Facebook negatively affect daily lives and overly complicate culture as we know it.

Instead we get a cartoon, and a bad one.

The plot and character acting is purposely immature and painful to sit through.

The first ten minutes walks us through the life of Michael Harris (Ryan Hanson) who works as a meter-maid, zealously writing throngs of parking tickets while updating his Facebook account several times an hour with lightening speed.

Michael discovers no one really cares about his chronic postings and decides to fake his own demise to see what would happen.

That's as good as it gets. All that follows is insufferably silly without being funny.

In a dramatic context, that kind of idea for a movie potentially could have produced something infinitely more entertaining and thought provoking then this.

I often felt I was watching a production akin to that eternal flop, 'Dude, Where's My Car?'

I couldn't sit through that one, either.

Although this was a seemingly standard antihero style movie, it held my attention. The subject matter was relevant, acting was entertaining enough and the cinematography was clean, as far as I'm concerned. While fewer spots than I'd had suspected caused me to wince at the acting, overall I felt as though I was watching a fast-food, summertime-pick- on-a-whim movie at the theater. Some people may avoid junk food at all costs, but every once in awhile it's good to grub on some sugar covered salt. My bet is that Sarah Smick (director/writer) and Ian Michaels (writer) have movies such as Bio-Dome, Encino Man and Bill & Ted in the 'liked' category of their preferred social media site (or maybe just on Blu-ray).

Friended To Death is a witty film with fun, over the top characters whose antics are both hysterical and heartbreaking.The film illustrates just how far a social media addict might go to find out who his real friends are. Michael Harris is a detestable parking enforcement officer played by Ryan Hansen, who lives for social media. He makes a decision to use Facebook to test his relationships. In this funny, zany film, while we laugh at the wild antics, we'll see a little bit of ourselves. The actors did an amazing job of bringing life to this "sign of our times" story. Congratulations to the filmmakers for giving voice to the profound role social media plays in our lives. I highly recommend this totally enjoyable film!