Easter Replacements

Great message, lighthearted, family movie. Diverse cast of great actors. Funny scenes and strong storytelling. I recommend this film. The dialog is strong.

Easter Replacements is a fascinating family drama, with great acting, and exceptional writing. A married couple going through some strong disagreements, learns that the two couples that they thought were coming to their home, have cancelled and sent two other couple instead. I thought the social tension and the mood were very effective. The story unfolded in ways I didn't expect, and it was very intriguing. In addition to the married couple who is in strong disagreement, we see the relationship dynamics between the other couples play out in very surprising ways as well. This movie is worth your time, watch it!

This reminded me of some 90's sitcoms with characters coming and going from one room to the other or dashing out to fix a relationship glitch here and there. I think the dialogue was meant to make me cringe at times with embarrassment (did that person really say that?) which adds to the comedy style of the film. Nice that the film was clean and had a decent underlaying message as well as some twists in the story. Nice easy film to watch without overly complex plot lines or character arcs to follow. The filmmakers did a good job with the settings and actors who were easy to track and not mix up.

Although this isn't really my type of movie I was most surprised at the quality of the writing. This is a stellar script and I believe this writer is going places, without a doubt the best and most impressive thing in this film. The dialogue was so good it almost felt at odds with the film in some moments. Witty character interactions galore, this also has astute satire, genuinely endearing character moments, not least from the central protagonist who is thoughtout teetering on the edge of catastrophe in everything he does. And the performances really hold their own which allows the dialogue to flourish even more. My criticisms would be the somewhat pasted in rolling background soundtracks, I would have much preferred an interesting soundscape/sound design to allow the awkward comedy to do its thing. Also I feel that the staging often felt static, no one really moves while they are talking so the film is 90 percent static conversations... Great conversations, but I thought it would definitely benefit from more dynamic blocking. All that said I feel that we are watching a class A writer in his early years, and I have no doubt that we will be seeing much larger TV shows and movies helmed by this writer in the near future.

What would you do if you had to host 2 couples of complete strangers while dealing with marital issues? This movie raises questions regarding family values in the backdrop of social expectations. If this sounds like something you are interested in, give this indie a go, it might surprise you.