User reviews

This is a romance film that just didn't move me. Gabriela is just to smart a character to be in a relationship that she does not want to be in. Yet, she's in one and we're not given the reasons as to why she's suppose to marry her boyfriend. Seidy Lopez is beautiful and a very good actress but she's to mature and sophisticated to be in that situation. Some of the scenes really drag along and the cinematography is at best "Spotty". It doesn't work.

I was certainly not overwhelmed by this movie. I rented the video without knowing anything about Gabriela, and honestly wish I had waited until it was on the favorites shelf. In its defense I did find the actors very appealing, and the story line was decent but I thought the lighting was terrible & distracting. Also as there were no subtitles for the Spanish dialogue (even when they were in Mexico) I can only guess what the mother? said to Gabriela. All in all it was only a step above fair at best.

I am in the minority view, for sure, on this one. Except for the ending that picked up the pace and added a larger pool of believable characters that worked well in the telling, the story was predictable in fifteen minute lead time segments.

I was deeply dissapointed by this film. I made a point of watching it because it was so highly rated by others, but I failed to see any redeeming features. The acting was at a level of drama class at a school, the story line and dialogue lacking any sophistication. It was a sort of film a not-very-talented 15 year old would do with some friends.

I was waiting in vain for something here to shine and to explain why others rated it so highly. Waiting that any moment something really brilliant will happen, or that at least I'll realise that this is some sort of a spoof - could it be that these pathetic characters are meant as caricatures of behaviour? I'm really lost here. Maybe it is meant to be a typical Latin soap - that's the nearest thing I could think of as an excuse for this film. No excuse though for wasting my time.

I don't like to leave a negative review. I'm sure that everyone worked very hard on this film. And I would like to be able to sell my copy.

But this film is in the rough and not a gem. The dialog doesn't work. The characters are not believable. (Why does the fiancé have nothing to say for himself?) The romance has no chemistry. The location is unclear. (Are the English speaking policemen who ask for money in Mexico?) The story is predictable and cliché.

The actors are all very nice looking. Perhaps given an interesting story and dialogue that works, this could have been a less boring film.

The only thing Indie about this film is the budget.

Don't be misled by the positive reviews. This is no Indie sleeper.

The film wasn't terrible but it sure isn't a 8 point something. I cannot believe people rated it this highly. It was contrived, the acting was so -so and the music was awful. Is there perhaps another movie by the same name that people were mistakenly voting for? Because this movie is average at best. Do not waste your time watching it. I am sorry I did.

Great character! That's what love stories and romantic movies are about, and this movie has them in droves, from the airheaded Hungarian Princess played with gusto by Stacy Haiduk, to the doting grandmother played with non-stop motormouth by the great Lupe Ontiveros, "Gabriela" has great supporting characters. Of course, this would be nothing if the two leads, Mike and Gabriela weren't fully fleshed, three dimensional characters, and they are. A totally engrossing film.

I would also like to know what film everybody else watched to give this exercise in boredom such high marks??? Please don't just write me off as insensitive just because I found this dull. I really enjoy a good romance and love story, but this is not one of them! I'm not one of those people that needs explosions and CGI to enjoy a film, but if a drama is to be good then the acting must carry the weight of the plot. This film contains boring wooden acting! Ok, Seidy Lopez is a gorgeous...no argument there, but I felt absolutely no empathy what so ever for the characters. I'm at a loss to see where all the passion is that previous commentators have touched upon. I was bored, bored, bored! Of course you'll have to decide for yourselves what you think of this, but if it were up to me you'd all save 90 minutes of your precious time and avoid this huge dose of valium!

I saw it at a benefit just before it opened and I could tell it would do extremely well. The audience really loved it. Jaime Gomez and Vincent Miller very kindly stayed after a panel discussion to sign tons of autographs. Very nice people who deserve to be successful.

What the heck did the rest of you watch..? I can't believe ANYONE would rate this movie higher than a 7 .. even if your a romance nutter!

Within 15 minutes of watching I was overcome with a strange ability to predict EVERY turn of the plot... after 50 minutes viewers commented out loud that the film was "slow", "boring", "tedious", "Weak", "Wooden acting",.. I actually had to apologize...

Honestly, I just can't believe people have voted so highly for this! It really makes me feel there's a fix on...

This is a good romantic style of film which makes it a good date movie. I was on a first date when I saw this movie. Something about this movie "Clicked" with both of us. It really draws you into to the whole idea of romantic love. The two leads are hot on screen which leads to much heat in the audience.

Anyway, my date and I met for coffee before the movie and everything was a little uneasy. But when we left the movie, we ended up talking for hours about the situations in the movie. All I can say is that because of Gabriella we are still seeing eachother a few weeks later. This is pretty good in my book. When is the video coming out?

Like many other reviewers, I bought this DVD because of its high IMDb rating. Unlike many, I was not disappointed, though I my own rating of this film is a 7, rather than the 10 that the majority of raters have given it. Gabriela is an enjoyable romance film with a plot, characters, and dialogue that held my attention throughout.

Some reviewers have suggested that the characters in the film are unrealistic. I had no problem believing them completely. I think those who think otherwise are forgetting the first rule of Love (and, for that matter, of human interactions in general): Logic means nothing.

To me, Gabriela's situation is understandable and painful: she is trapped -- by the bounds of tradition and loyalty -- in a relationship that no longer satisfies her. She knows this, all too well, and so allows herself to fall quickly into an affair with her co-worker, a good-hearted, naive young man who is drawn to her from their first meeting. The tension between the lure of passion (and, perhaps, real love) and loyalty to social mores, family expectations, and, simply, a desire on Gabriela's part not to do wrong to a man (her fiancee) whose only fault is that he no longer interests her, all combine to form the basis for a classic romance. It is a formula that has worked in film after film, and it does pretty well here.

I liked this film because I was never quite certain how things were going to turn out. This mystery held my attention. I also enjoyed the comic relief provided by Doug (Troy Winbush), Mike's philandering and cynical friend. And, though I know that using a softening lens and warm colors to create mood in the scenes where Mike and Gabriela are together is one of the oldest (and to some, campiest) tricks in a director/cinematographer's book, I feel that the technique works in this movie. I liked it. Finally, the centrality of the intergenerational conflict between mother and daughter and intercultural conflict between Mexican traditions and U.S. feminist beliefs that underlies much of the film was to me intriguing and thought-provoking.

There are, however, some caveats I would add to the above praise, that contributed to this being more of a "7" for me than a "10". While I enjoyed the film, I did not find that it stuck with me for days afterward, resurfacing in my mind during idle moments the way truly great films do. It is, to put it bluntly, no "Casablanca."

I was also disappointed to find that the DVD I had purchased, a Region 1 DVD, did not have English subtitles. This is not important for most of the film -- the dialogue is in English and quite clear -- but it is for the final scenes. These scenes take place in Mexico and are, realistically, in Spanish. Alas, I long ago forget 99% of my high school Spanish, so the subtleties of these scenes are lost to me. While I applaud the decision to switch languages, I think it was an oversight bordering on malice (i.e., let's show 'em what it feels like to have to cope with being unable to understand the language, the way Latin American immigrants are forced, daily, to cope . . .) that resulted in no subtitles being available.

The digital transfer from film to DVD is also fairly poor. The film seems to blur or skip at a few points. This is irritating, but with a little effort one can ignore it. It is an unfortunate byproduct of a low budget, I guess.

All in all, this is a good low-budget indie film and a worthwhile effort for a lot of relative newcomers. I look forward to seeing more from all of them. I recommend it to you, but encourage you to lower your expectations a tad so as not to be disappointed. If you do this, I think you'll have a good time watching it. You may even love it.

Having seen the ratings I decided to rent "Gabriela". Let's cut to the chase. I had the worst time ever watching this movie. I thought that maybe it was deeper than it looked at the beginning but I waited, waited and waited... I could not be more wrong. Cheap story, very predictable plot, horrible acting! Do not waste your time - fall in love yourself instead, or go for a hike!!! Again, a movie I would not recommend even to my grandma, who by the way, loves cheap love stories.

The movie was boring and predictable. As I watched it, I delivered the lines of dialogue *before* the characters did. By the midpoint, I was wondering if the movie would ever end. By the end of the movie, I was physically cringing at every embarrassingly bad moment I was forced to endure. Bad acting, boring story, predictable dialogue. Cliched supporting characters. Storylines that go nowhere. Movies don't get much worse than this.

"Gabriela" is a mediocre love story with sweetly seductive Seidy Lopez as the title character - a betrothed Los Angeles psychotherapists who falls in love with two men at the same time and must choose. The film plays out as a slow, sentimental, diffuse drama with a Latin flavor which fails to show us anything new or distinguish itself in any way making for a very ordinary watch. Wait for the broadcast release and keep expectations low. C-

Note - The DVD I watched had no close captioning or English subtitles and there was considerable Spanish dialogue.

It's a wonderful effort by a first time filmmaker with a very low budget. I would have liked to see a little more in terms of production values and the like, but with so little to work with, the director got great performances from the entire cast including amazing supporting players and got a great look for the film that expressed vividly all the romanticism of the story. The script was also very clever and flowed nicely. I'll love to see what those guys can do with more money.

I can see that this will affect and have an impact to quite a few people (especially those who love to watch the Mexican soap TV shows and I don't mean that judgmental), as it has quite a few ingredients that are familiar. But especially the female lead does not do anything good to this movie. Beautiful but bland. Even the fact, that this goes the extra mile in the bedroom is nothing to get excited about (excuse the pun), when everything else is very cliché.

But as stated above, this will and has found an audience. I can only write, what I saw in this and it didn't work for me. From lighting, to acting, to (low standard) directing, not to mention the story.

One thing is for sure: If you wondered, where Zach G. of "Gremlins" fame went ... you get your answer here.

I watched this movie because of the high ratings. It's way too overrated! There's nothing in this story that has not been used in any low-budget romantic Hollywood-comedy before, and it's done in a toe-crumbling manner (with a soft lense and with long distance shots (or hidden behind curtain shots) when having sex. It's hard to believe why Gabriela falls in love with this guy so quickly and with not much really said and done to make it happen. The dialogue is very conventional, and the music makes no impact. The description of the mental institution, the behaviour of the patients and the treatment they recieve is very unreal and a disgrace to anyone having mentally ill friends or family. Seidy Lopez was not exciting or pretty to me, and Jaime Gomez was boring and dull. Well, I was hoping for something really special and fresh because of the high rating of this movie, but it didn't touch me at all. There is no laughs or any particular feel for the characters in this film.

Go rent "Jalla Jalla!" for a refreshing adaption of the same story or go see "37°2 le matin (Betty Blue)" for a real love story, that's got it all - mental illness, deception, drama, love, life, humor, sex, sensuality and a truly disturbing and original storyline.

I have to agree with the commentators who are mystified by the high rating of this movie. We rented it based on those ratings and were sorely disappointed. The acting is amateurish. The plot (girl finds the "right" guy "too late") is chiched. The cinematography laughable (at least half the movie is shot with a soft lens or "through gauze"). The dialog is ridiculous. "It's hard, man, this 'love' s**t." After a while, it almost seems like an "Airplane"-style spoof of romantic comedies, except that it takes itself seriously. Don't bother with this one.

Overall, I think this is a very good film. I think some of the performances are better than others - Troy Winbush and Lupe Ontiveros are hilarious! The story is a simple one, but it keeps you guessing - I really didn't know what the character of Gabriela would do in the end. The film keeps you entertained throughout with a sense of humor and some off the wall characters. You can tell the film was an independent film, with a few of the scenes a little grainy, but visually it is quite impressive. I definitely recommend people check this one out.

"Gabriela" is not a bad movie at all, but prior to watching it I've had high expectations based on a pretty high rating here on IMDb. The actual movie did not live up to them.

The actors delivered a nice performance, but the leads were not so memorable. They are believable, almost real people, but as you may know real people tend to be just one more part of the crowd, they do not stand out as a movie character should. Actually I wanted to see more of Douglas or Nick, but not Mike or Gabriela herself, even though they were oh-so romantic. They lacked whatever is called good character development.

Another problem with this movie is its inconsistency. It seems like the director couldn't decide whether he was making a love-story or a comedy. Tense passionate scenes are in a heterogeneous mix with plain fun. Don't get me wrong, the humor was great, but it just didn't go together with the rest of the film. As soon as I got all serious and involved in the love affairs there would always be something to break the concentration and get me laughing. Romance plus comedy does not equal a romantic comedy in this case. It should have been two separate movies in my opinion. This way we'd laugh our behinds off at one, and cry our guts out at another.

Good stuff for and independent film. Pretty neat camera work, clever dialogue at times, some social issues mentioned, but the previously mentioned downfalls prevent me from rating this film that high. My rating (6/10).

Vincent Jay Miller apparently has been successful in getting everyone who worked on this movie, along with their family and friends, to give this movie perfect votes of 10 and leaving glowing reviews.

Scanning my local theater listings, I came across this movie. Having never heard anything about Gabriela, I, of course, came here to IMDB.COM to learn more about it. Much to my surprise I find that the movie has a User Rating of 9.5 with 113 votes. With a 9.5 rating I figure this movie must be the sleeper movie of the year. Heck, The Godfather only has a rating of 8.9. However, the movie I saw is a 9.5 rated movie in Bizarro World only.

I graciously give the movie a 6 out of 10. Graciously because I am giving the movie extra credit for being an independent film. The movie is a very freshman effort. The script and direction is lacking. Some scenes work but most do not. The characters with the exception of the grandmother seem to be under played.

By having his actors act behind the most distracting objects, Miller may have already created his signature look. There is a scene with a huge flower display on a restaurant table in which two actors can barely see each other without making an effort. Another scene is in a room full of large paper strings hanging from balloons on the ceiling. And still another takes place behind a kitchen island filled with such picture perfect vegetables that it could have come out of Better Homes and Gardens.

If you have a love of low budget independent film you may be interested in seeing this movie, however I fear most people will find the movie very boring. I find it very interesting that of the 15 people who wrote glowing reviews 9 of them have written reviews for this movie only, and the other 6 have only written one other review. Assuming these people are not associated with this movie, I fail to understand how Gabriela could practically be the only movie to inspire them to write a review.

"Gabriela" is one of those rare treats: a love story that is genuinely heartfelt and without the sentimentality that plagues so many romantic comedies.

Perhaps this is the result of the movie being an independent film and done outside of the studio system, which leads one to wonder why there isn't more independent love stories being produced nowadays and instead the independent film movement seems stuck in Tarantino-ersatz mode.

I am saying that to emphasize how much I appreciate the kind of movie that Vincent Miller, who also produced the film, clearly a good move to preserve his vision, has given us today. It's all the more remarkable that it is his first feature film. Rarely have I seen a first film of a director that feels so accomplished (yes, I know, there is Citizen Kane, but how many more are there, certainly not that many recently).

A film would be dead in its tracks without good actors and Jaime Gomez is a revelation and I hope to see a lot more of him in the future.

Seidy Lopez is also excellent, and it's nice to see her get a much different part from what she did in "Mi Vida Loca".

Finally a special mention for Stacy Haiduk, who's an actress I've always liked, and the reason I rented the film after seeing she was in it, and she completely steals the scene she is in (no offense to Jaime who gallantly serves up the scene for her with lots of sensitivity) and should have gotten some sort of award if they only had a Cameo of year or something like that.

Great film. I'll see it again with great pleasure.

This is a beautiful romance with great acting as well as beautiful visuals. Beauty is not skin deep as we see the characters struggle with their fears and insecurities about love.

A thoughtful romantic movie, this goes far beyond the typical soapy romance. The characters struggle with love while they try to help those lost in life at the mental clinic where they work. In an endearing moment one of the disturbed patients is diagnosing the professional, telling her that she's not happy.

The movie is a beauty to watch too. The lighting is lush and stylized which works great with the gorgeous production design. This aspect is unusual for a love story.

A great find... Please make more like this one!