The Good Half

This has to be one of my favorite movies of the year. The film follows Renn, an aspiring writer who returns home to Cleveland after the death of his mother. On the trip home meets, Zoey, a psychologist who he connects with. However, Renn is struggling with his family as the family makes preparations for his mother's funeral. Particularly, Renn is struggling with his sister Leigh, who has been doing most of the work while he is gone. At the same time, Renn finds himself relieving both good and bad memories about his mother while also learning that not everyone remembers things the same way he does. I don't want to give anything away, but I thought this was an amazing movie with a great cast. It was both emotional and funny. Brittany Snow stole the show as Leigh. Brittany is my all-time favorite actor, and this has to be among her best work. She captured what it is like to be stuck in the middle of family drama in a family crisis. She did a great job as the sister who is trying to keep the family together. She also delivers some heartbreaking scenes that blew me away. And yet, she was able to bring some levity to the role. She also did well playing off of Nick Jonas, whose character was stuck in his own way for a lot of the film. Nick Jonas proves he can not only act but lead a movie. Alexandra Shipp and Nick Jonas have amazing chemistry, and their relationship felt authentic and not forced or too over the top. Furthermore, I really liked a lot of the themes and subjects of this movie. It really captured what it's like when you lose a loved one. Renn and Leigh both go through the stages of grief in their own ways. The film also captured how both good and bad memories return in a situation like that. Lastly, the film does an excellent job of showing how different people remember people differently based on their relationship with them. Renn has one image of his mom, but his sister and the others he meets have a different one. My only complaint would be that I would've liked to have seen Leigh's character further developed. For example, there is mention of trouble with her boyfriend, but they never really get into that. Also, there was some Cleveland slander, which I didn't approve of (let's go, Cavs!). But other than that, it's a near-perfect film, IMHO. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone, especially Brittany Snow's performance alone.

I'm a bit of a sucker for those films that slip under the radar, are produced on a low budget and don't have all the marketing glitz of so-called blockbuster movies. And so it is with the Good Half. Grief is an individual emotion and response that's often hard to articulate and depict on the screen without falling into cliches and mush. However the Good Half gives a worthy and considered account of what grief is like for 1 family and particularly the son, Renn Wheeland, played by Nick Jonas. With the death of his mother, he finds it difficult to express his emotions and plays it out through detachment and, at times aggression. Flashbacks of Renn with his mother during his childhood and later, add to his frustration at her passing. This is an ensemble cast and Renn's story is aided by well-balanced and convincing performances by his sister, Leigh, played by Brittany Snow and his mother Lily, played by Elisabeth Shue. Other cast members add to the well-crafted story. While the story moves along at a slow pace (as others have mentioned in reviews here) this only adds depth to the grief in the immediate aftermath of Lily's death. So be patient and watch through to the end and you'll be rewarded with a superb story of one family's response to the passing of one of their key members. Highly recommended.

Why are you actually home? "My mom died."

Nick Jonas (as Renn) delivers one of the most natural, honest performances you'll ever see on film, as he returns to Cleveland to attend his mother's funeral (Lily, played by the fabulous Elizabeth Shue). Of course, the camera loves Jonas, and he's one of those actors that simply looks great on screen. Whether the camera is wide or close, he's warm, authentic and naturally charming. Then there's the superb direction from Robert Schwartzman which is also very thoughtful as he draws nuance after nuance from Jonas with subtle, quirky looks, awkward smiles, and nervous gestures). Jonas reaches acting nirvana because it never looks like he's acting.

Overall, it's often painful to watch as Jonas' character interacts with his distant father and strange step-father while missing his dead mother (through often funny flashbacks). He struggles that she left him but he also realizes he is powerless to do anything about it. But, he can hope. He wants so badly to re-live a day, an hour, even a moment with Lily. But, it's never melodramatic or overacted. Just completely natural.

Toward the end of the film, Jonas delivers a very fine monologue of just what The Good Half means to him. It's a memorable bookend to a performance that is truly perfect.

Bravo Nick.

This is a small, but touching movie about a death that does not overstay its welcome. Each person in the family grieves in their own way and even the sleazy stepfather had his moments.

I'm on the fence with Nick Jonas - I don't get his appeal, but he does a good enough job with this. However, isn't he supposed to be a singer? His karaoke was awful, but I don't know his music, so eh.

Elizabeth Shue is wonderful, as always, in the supporting role of his Mother, and so is Brittany Snow, as his sister.

A slow watch, but I can't say I was bored at all. In fact, it brought back some sad memories for me too.

The Good Half is a movie I wanted to like much more than I did. In fact, I usually love these types of films. But something just didn't click for me once the credits rolled. Nick Jonas is not a bad actor, but he's not great either. It doesn't help that the script isn't anything special and the dialogue is sometime laughable or not delivered in a realistic way.

Jonas plays a young man who returns home to attend his mother'a funeral once he realizes she has sadly passed. The premise is fine and I think the movie means well, but the delivery and subject matter just don't add up to anything worth noting. It's an average movie with average...everything.