The best two words to sum up this movie are "clever" and "sweet". Together, or independent of each other, they are not necessarily bad things to be; even here they are both still positives, however, in this particular case the one also works against the other and it is only because of that that this film does not become great.
The trailer tells you all you need to know about whether you might be interested in this type of film; it's a light, indie fantasy with likeable performances, romance, and a suggestion of serious themes and concepts. And it nails all of those aspects. It is clever, and witty and the performances are uniformly spot on. There are a couple of occasions where some purely visual sequences could have been tightened - the physical comedy skills of the actors are good, but not so good that we couldn't have left some scenes a minute earlier - and I am not a fan of the slightly wavering "indie camera" (usually a clue that they felt they didn't have the time to set up a tripod and are trying to do a static-shot hand held) but that's a personal technical preference, and not an outright detriment. The direction occasionally shines (as in the opening scene of the main character's attempted suicide) but, by and large it is visually unremarkable. Where director Daniel O'Connor's real strengths lie are in his writing and his handling of the performances.
But as positive as those things are, they also point up the films only serious weakness: it only HINTS at delving seriously into anything. It is so obviously sweet and good-natured, that you know instantaneously where the film is going and how it's going to end. That the main character would even risk possible harm to himself is simply a set-up to the clever premise of guardian angels showing up, and this side of his character is never dealt with again. That characters will skirt the deeper implications of what qualifies as good and bad - even as they are supposedly discussing them - either indicates a lack of depth in the writer (which I tend to doubt based on the cleverness of the dialogue etc) or an intentional unwillingness to probe anything too deeply. Even when job applicants are being chosen based on whether they are "good" or "bad" people, it is shocking that no one mentions that a good person could still be incompetent, or a "bad person" could be great at their job.
We follow our lead down a predictably darker path (although more a slightly shaded path than anything truly dark) but there is nothing plumbed there beside simple platitudes. And a happy ending is never in doubt. This would all be intolerable in a movie that wasn't so charming, but as much as I was enjoying myself watching it play out (I am a sucker for intelligently written dialogue) I felt cheated out of the Great Movie this little picture could have been with a tad more ambition (or, perhaps, courage?).
I unquestionably recommend it, provided you are not expecting something with any serious insight. It is clever and it is sweet, and it does both of those really, really well. The trailer hinted at additional depths, but unfortunately the film itself had no intention of going there.
The trailer tells you all you need to know about whether you might be interested in this type of film; it's a light, indie fantasy with likeable performances, romance, and a suggestion of serious themes and concepts. And it nails all of those aspects. It is clever, and witty and the performances are uniformly spot on. There are a couple of occasions where some purely visual sequences could have been tightened - the physical comedy skills of the actors are good, but not so good that we couldn't have left some scenes a minute earlier - and I am not a fan of the slightly wavering "indie camera" (usually a clue that they felt they didn't have the time to set up a tripod and are trying to do a static-shot hand held) but that's a personal technical preference, and not an outright detriment. The direction occasionally shines (as in the opening scene of the main character's attempted suicide) but, by and large it is visually unremarkable. Where director Daniel O'Connor's real strengths lie are in his writing and his handling of the performances.
But as positive as those things are, they also point up the films only serious weakness: it only HINTS at delving seriously into anything. It is so obviously sweet and good-natured, that you know instantaneously where the film is going and how it's going to end. That the main character would even risk possible harm to himself is simply a set-up to the clever premise of guardian angels showing up, and this side of his character is never dealt with again. That characters will skirt the deeper implications of what qualifies as good and bad - even as they are supposedly discussing them - either indicates a lack of depth in the writer (which I tend to doubt based on the cleverness of the dialogue etc) or an intentional unwillingness to probe anything too deeply. Even when job applicants are being chosen based on whether they are "good" or "bad" people, it is shocking that no one mentions that a good person could still be incompetent, or a "bad person" could be great at their job.
We follow our lead down a predictably darker path (although more a slightly shaded path than anything truly dark) but there is nothing plumbed there beside simple platitudes. And a happy ending is never in doubt. This would all be intolerable in a movie that wasn't so charming, but as much as I was enjoying myself watching it play out (I am a sucker for intelligently written dialogue) I felt cheated out of the Great Movie this little picture could have been with a tad more ambition (or, perhaps, courage?).
I unquestionably recommend it, provided you are not expecting something with any serious insight. It is clever and it is sweet, and it does both of those really, really well. The trailer hinted at additional depths, but unfortunately the film itself had no intention of going there.