Alex of Venice

Young woman loses her husband and has to take care of her kid by herself. What's new to this story?

The good: acting is good. The story is sweet and gentle. There is a certain effort to make it transcend the simple story of a single mom.

The bad: it's tedious. It's too safe. This story has been told before, with much more spark and punch in other movies.

A young professional woman, whose lived a somewhat sheltered life, is forced to cope with her challenging family situation after her husband walks out. Simple movie without major upheavals but charming characters that are memorable and heart-warming. Easy film to watch.

I enjoyed this quite simple and straightforward story and script. The lead female character adds to the story and the script with her extremely natural performance and lets the movie flow smoothly. Yes, it could have become a deeper movie at many levels but that would also have taken away from the simplicity of the characters portrayed. I enjoyed it thoroughly and recommend it for a weeknight watch.

This should be at least some 20 minutes longer. From beginning I felt whole storytelling as rushed. Husband suddenly announces that he can't do it anymore, and leaves. But we couldn't see almost nothing why, how family was really dysfunctional. And it was so most time. I don't know who to blame more: writers or director. Probably both. It seems that director felt in love with Mary Elizabeth Winstead (MEW in further text), and focused on her all time - there was plenty of scenes with only her on screen. Actually, I can not blame him for that - camera loves her, and she was ideal cast for idealistic, as young dedicated to school, work type young woman. I watched this mostly because of her. Don Johnson was pleasant surprise in atypical role. Unfortunately, there is strong impression that male characters were not just lower time on screen, but presented as lower worthy. Still, it could be pretty good indie movie with better storytelling and more time. Was problem with budget or directors inexperience, I can't tell. Acting from MEW, Don Johnson and Skylar Gaertner was superb. Other did good job too. My rating is 6 - it was watchable, not boring, maybe simply because you can not stop to watch MEW :-)

Directed by actor Chris Messina, Alex of Venice is highly indie on the scope of indie-ness from the mundane plot to the uneventful conclusion.

Alex of Venice is so indie that its plot can be summarized like something out of a fortune cookie "do not resist the progress when your life takes a turn toward a new beginning." Seriously, Archon is not even trying to be cute in that little blurb. Alex of Venice is about a workaholic female attorney with a stay-at-home husband who must adapt when her husband suddenly chooses to leave the marriage. Not only must she acclimate to the added responsibilities of tending to the issues at home, but she must also adapt if she is to survive with her sanity intact.

Alex of Venice is not a comedy nor is it quirky in the way that indies typically are, it is just a straightforward drama.There is drama incorporated through Alex's work and legal pursuits, drama with her child, drama with her family, her love life and marriage. All in all, Alex's life is a real mess and is handling it surprisingly well considering.

The cast is a medley of producers and writers associated with the film and that translates to a general familial comfort between the cast. None of the characters in Alex of Venice are particularly captivating, and that is with our film critic having a girl crush on the lead in the film Mary Elizabeth Winstead. In a way, Alex of Venice is refreshing because the characters are loud enough to be distinctive but realistic enough to be genuine.

Alex of Venice is as much of a good non-event as you can get. It is all very under developed but not necessarily bad and I'm sure those who knew of it will watch it. But it is just not remarkable enough to recommend.

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