iMordecai

I laughed and cried in the best of ways! Hollywood should take a page from Independent movies because indies have more passion in each frame than most other studio productions do in an entire franchise. Saw this at Saint Augustine Film Festival with my parents and everyone loved it! We were supposed to see something with Peter Dinklage in it but this was a very welcomed surprise. Made me think about my family a lot.

Not a lot of stories like these out there. This touches on a beautiful theme that it is never too late to find inspiration all while enjoying the shenanigans of Mordicai. Fantastic storytelling. Great Performances from Judd and Carol as the root of the movie. Lots of heartwarming moments.

P.s the editor for this worked on BIRDMAN??! No wonder it looked so good. Looks like A24 might have some competition if these film makers continue working together. Would love to see more work from these talented people.

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 found the movie funny and heartwarming. The writing are directing are very good for a first timer. The characters are well developed and the storyline compelling. I didn't find myself bored at any time during the film. That rarely happens.

Based on the plot, I was unsure whether my kids teenage kids would relate to it, but they enjoyed the movie as much as I did.

I'm recommending this movie and good solid entertainment that will make you laugh and cry. I think that people of all ages, as children, parents, and grandparents will find something to relate to. It also has a business aspect that I found particularly interesting.

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.

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.