Shithouse

Was that the real version? Does the editor deserves a Razzie? What have I just watched? I'm so confused. This review has the same structure like the movie. I don't think I get the final version. This is still in post-production.

As a college student, I can attest to the tonal and plot accuracy this movie achieves. It does that really well, but is the average day to day life of a college student trying to adjust to being away from home, while constantly shooting himself in the foot make for an entertaining movie? No. Is it worth a full length film? Also, no. This would have been a great 45 minute short. But the tedious and awkward, albeit accurate and realistic, dialogue which takes up the vast majority of this movie, runs dry far before the movie ends. I'm sure some people can relate to the movie enough to find this quite enjoyable, but I'm not one of them. Regardless, I think the is a successful debut for Raiff, as far as debuts go.

SHITHOUSE was a very, VERY pleasant surprise. You should see it. There, that's all I should say. But if you need more reasons, I'll see what I can do.

First of all, let me just say that it's amusing that the film is named SHITHOUSE, but that name probably isn't doing it any favors. But, it is what it is.

The film stars director & writer Cooper Raiff, who at age 24 has taken a very low budget and produced a surprising film that evokes movies like BEFORE SUNSET more than ANIMAL HOUSE. Yes, it's about a college freshman (Alex, played by Raiff), far from home, trying to find his place at college via a party at the legendary title location. But it is very much NOT a movie about a party. Raiff is nearly crippled with loneliness and he knows it (he carries on a dialogue with his stuffed dog toy that shows us he knows just how deep his depression is). His devoted mom and sister are back in Texas, and they would gladly welcome him back from California with open arms and understanding hearts. But he senses that would be to embrace failure and to settle for less than life has in store for him. He struggles to make friends and he struggles to meet girls. But, amazingly, his conversation with himself forces him to ask his roommate (who barely speaks to him) to take him to this famous party so that he can, hopefully, break out of his shell a little. They go to the party (and you can tell this is a low budget film right here, because the party is attended by 40 people rather than the 400 a big-budget film would use). It actually feels like a party real people might go to. Alex has a modestly good time, but isn't terribly successful socially. But when he and the roommate end up back at the dorms, and his roommate has fallen unconscious on the floor after soiling himself, Alex escapes to the common room of the dorms to escape the stench. There, he falls into conversation with his RA, Maggie (Dylan Gelula) and the evening turns into a heartfelt encounter for the two of them. They go on a long, ambling walk through the city, and we feel a very palpable connection grow between the two. It is a transformative night.

Transformative for Alex, but it's different for Maggie. I don't want to say anymore, because this film is so full of little surprises. There's laughter that's well-earned and driven by character. There's some absurdity (revolving around a pet turtle). There's some deeply felt sharing of feelings. And there are some astonishing moments, such as when Alex weeps uncontrollably as he shares his loneliness, finally, with his mom. When has a movie "about" partying at college ever shown us something like that?

We root very deeply for Alex. He's a nice guy who sometimes does thoughtless things. He's a smart guy who often does stupid things. He's shy but has a capacity to connect.

I was very impressed with this film, and cared pretty deeply our the main character and the central relationship. There are some issues. Raiff is not the world's greatest actor...sometimes he doesn't fully deliver on the promise of his own script. Gelula is very good in her role, but as rich as her character is, it's not always convincing. (This could be just the difficulty of a 24 year old, inexperience writer trying to craft a full-realized young woman.) Occasionally, the cinematography is a bit muddier than it should be, but given the clearly very low budget, this is forgivable. Sometimes the conversations between characters skew from being realistic to just uninteresting.

But I still thoroughly enjoyed myself and I enjoyed rooting for this messed up but very relatable guy. If you can get past the unpleasant title, you should enjoy this film a great deal.

I think they were trying to be artsy with this movie but it was ridiculous and boring. I kept hoping something would happen but nothing ever did. What a misleading name for a movie too. They want you to think it is like Animal House when it is really just an annoying couple that won't shut up yet manage to say nothing.

We all love our RA.

A freshman struggling in college befriended his dorm's RA, and they spent the night and learned about each other.

Early on, the movie had a great way of showing how our main character was lonely. Whenever the camera turned to his stuffed animal, there's always subtitles that replied back to our main character. Apparently it was him talking to his friend, the stuffed animal. Another part was that he's a mommy boy. He tried to go to parties, and clearly he was very awkward.

The first half of the story was mostly him on a walk with his RA, and for like 20 minutes it was just them talking. The way they talked was very realistic. It was awkward and had a bunch of repeating words. It just felt like I was watching two real life college students talking, not two actors remembering the script and acting out. This is possible because the two main actors were phenomenal.

Then the conflict happened. Both sides clearly did things wrong, and the movie did not show who's right or wrong. These scenarios definitely could happen in real life. Also, there's no emotional scene where they all made up.

Overall, a realistic and funny slice of life that showed some college students living their lives in college. 8.5/10.