User reviews

Director Todd Solondz returns to the land of melancholy with "Dark Horse," his latest serio-comic look at some of life's semi-lovable losers. I say "semi-lovable" because Solondz's characters often contain a dark streak of 'nasty' inside them, and this nastiness often manifests itself in disturbing ways.

Such is the case with Abe (Jordan Gelber,) a thirty-something man-child still living in the action-figure-adorned bedroom of his parents' home. Abe, who passes most days at his father's office avoiding work while trolling eBay for collectibles, finds himself at a wedding seated next to Miranda, an equally socially-awkward and very possibly damaged woman (Selma Blair.) After one date, Abe proposes to Miranda. Her rationale for accepting his proposal is the funniest and most depressing scene in the film. You find yourself laughing, and then quickly wondering how many people end up getting married for EXACTLY the same reasons as Miranda, without readily admitting it.

Abe's troubles mount as he finds himself having to deal with the ramifications of his rash decision. His parents (the marvelously restrained Christopher Walken and the equally marvelously restrained Mia Farrow) may be the original source of his troubles. His father constantly compares him to his more successful brother. His mother just wants him to accept his perennial-loser status, but she does it in the most kind and loving way.

None of this excuses Abe's selfishness and irrational sense of entitlement. Abe's doubts about his actions take the form of imaginary meetings and conversations with the people frustrating him in his life. (The narrative does get a bit muddled here.) His self-centeredness has devastating consequences, for others, but ultimately for himself. This 'dark horse' is not going to surprise us with a win.

Solondz leads this "Horse" well, but he can't make it drink. He doesn't disappoint, but he doesn't really surprise us either. The performances are uniformly fine. Gelber in particular does a good job of walking the tightrope of character between genuinely unpleasant and sadly unaware. Blair gets credit for playing Miranda as something other than a carbon copy or even a reverse negative image of Abe. Miranda is sadly aware of the pathetic nature of her life, and her bluntness in dealing with it is refreshing.

"Dark Horse" won't have you rolling in the aisles. You'll smile some, chuckle once or twice, and wince a lot. Standard Solondz, but that's better than most.

www.worstshowontheweb.com

Greetings again from the darkness. Todd Solondz is the master of film uncomfortableness. If you have seen his "Happiness", you won't debate whether that's a real word or not. Mr. Solondz has a way of finding the worst in his characters and then taking it even darker and more negative. And yet, somehow, his latest (and maybe his simplest film to date) could be called a comedy.

We are first introduced to Abe (Jordan Gelber) and Miranda (Selma Blair) as they share a table at a wedding, yet somehow aren't remotely together. He is oblivious to her near silent attempts to nicely avoid providing her phone number to him. The film moves quickly to provide proof that Abe is the epitome of arrested development. A mid-thirties something who not only "works" for his dad, but still lives with his parents (Mia Farrow, Christopher Walken)in a bedroom decorated with action figures. It's difficult to look at someone who takes up as much space as Abe and categorize them as a kid, so I believe the better term is "not an adult". He stalks Miranda and doesn't seem to mind/notice that she is a heavily medicated depressed individual who looks at him like he's a circus act.

Abe's work environment is no better than his personal life. He brings nothing of value to his dad's company, yet somehow thinks he is always being mistreated. This carries over to his feelings toward his brother Richard (Justin Bartha), who is a doctor. Abe, who dropped out of college, believes the only difference is that Richard was the favorite son and received special privileges. It's very easy to label Abe a "loser", but somehow Solondz manages to maintain our interest with small sparks of hope.

The hope quickly fades and Abe's life heads on a fast downward spiral. There are some bizarre fantasy/dream sequences that involve the quiet, much older co-worker Marie (Donna Murphy), and a conversation in the car with his mother and brother that plays like something directly out of a Woody Allen movie (made even creepier with the presence of Mia Farrow).

There are some funny moments, but as Mr. Solondz would prefer, the laughs are tainted with guilt. We can't help but wonder why we laugh at a guy for whom we have such little respect ... actually bordering on disgust. I must admit to being pretty tired of Abe by the end of the movie, and couldn't help wondering if it might have been more effective as a short film. Still, the acting was superb, and unfortunately Abe isn't that much of a stretch from someone you probably know in real life. (www.moviereviewsfromthedark.wordpress.com)

It's nice to see Todd Solondz working again, even if his films never play anywhere. Jordan Gebler stars as a chubby man in his 30s living with his parents (Mia Farrow and Christopher Walken) and working for his father. His life is going nowhere, and he's taking out his existential frustrations on everyone around him. He has one small hope in a new acquaintance he's made, an enormously depressed girl he meets at a wedding (Selma Blair, reprising her character from Solondz Storytelling - maybe). The two don't hit it off right away, but, thankfully for him, she soon gives up on all of her aspirations and agrees to his ill-advised marriage proposal. This is perhaps a tad less funny than Solondz's best films and even more depressing. Bartha is so obnoxious I could imagine many viewers tuning out immediately, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't see myself in that character. Most of us have these tendencies, or at least know someone who does. As the film progresses, it often enters the realm of fantasy or imagination without warning, often from the perspective of a character whom we might not imagine at first. It's an interesting film that I didn't flat-out love, but it's one I would like to see again in the future, for sure. Performances all around are very good. It's nice to see Farrow - can't remember the last time. Donna Murphy and Aasif Mandvi also have choice roles.

I get it Todd. Real life is depressing. Abe is a product of American capitalism. He has rich parents, a bad diet, uses pop-culture catch-phrases and assumes an unearned sense of entitlement. It's pretty clear that there's no "Tommy Boy" redemption coming here, but anyone expecting a black humor comedy in it's place will be left wanting. There is little to root for in any of the characters and despite some great, very dry, performances "Dark Horse" is at heart about realism. Jobs are mundane, people are medicated, have awkward conversations and drive to mega malls. As document of the times, "Dark Horse" may be relevant, those seeking a 2 hr escape from reality will feel worse afterwards. Unless you drive a Hummer.

"Don't think about it...do it or shut up about it"...the words of Abe's co-worker when he talks about killing himself.

Back in 1995, Todd Solondz made "Welcome to the Dollhouse". It certainly was not a feel-good film but was incredibly insightful and Solondz showed a deft hand at directing and writing a story about a troubled teen. Because it was so well made, I decided to watch another one of his films, "Dark Horse"...but was really disappointed. Like his previous film, it was incredibly depressing but also presented characters I really didn't care for in the least.

Abe is a 30-something loser. He's a fat slob who lives with his parents and he is essentially very much like Comic Book Man from "The Simpsons". At first, your heart hurts for the lonely guy...but through the course of the film you realize he's not worth caring about because he's so self-absorbed and has a sense of entitlement. What ultimately happens to him is really a downer...but not as sad as it could have been because I didn't care...I just wanted it to end.

Overall, a disappointing film and I wish I could have that 90 minutes or so of my life back.

Being someone who has seen most of Todd Solonz's movies, you know what to expect from him. And you won't get disappointed. I had the opportunity to watch the Middle East premiere of Dark Horse at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival. It was an even bigger experience to have Todd present during the screening, and give it an introduction as a 'sad comedy, where it's up to you to laugh or not'. I don't know how big an impact this particular statement had on my state of mind throughout the movie, but I cant help mentioning the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The story revolves around Abe, a thirty-something who works for his father, pampered by an extremely loving mother, having a highly accomplished doctor as his brother, and having a passion for collecting toys. When he meets Miranda, a strangely damaged soul going through some serious depression, he begins to think of getting out of his desperation by having her as a partner. They eventually enter into a seriously unstable relationship, where you even begin to question whether there really existed any element of a relationship between them.

The beauty of the movie lies in the director trying to portray the dark side of the unstable mind, through imagery. One of the scenes which really got to me is where Abe is supposedly in a toy store, demanding a refund for his fiancé whom he wants to return, insisting that he has a receipt which as the store staff points out has its date smudged out. Even though this scene is a figment of his fantasy, it really goes to show how Abe perceives things in life. A few other incidents involving the unseen affection Marie (secretary to Abe's father) has towards Abe, and Miranda's ex-boyfriend Mahmoud, all seemed to perfectly blend into the movie.

Needless to say, Christopher Walken played a strong part as Abe's father, so did all the other characters including Selma Blair as Miranda. However a big part of the movie's success lies in the solid performance by Jordan Gelber as Abe, who i felt was just apt for the role and did total justice to it.

Final verdict: A story involving a dysfunctional (or perhaps semi- functional) family, two out-of-the-normal characters and their seemingly unstable relationship, brilliantly presented in the form of a comedy - which makes you laugh and at the same time think about the appropriateness of laughing. Entertaining, and thought-provoking.

As a huge Todd Solondz fan, I was intrigued by the fact that Selma Blair would be returning for what I heard was intended to be a continuation for her character from Storytelling, one of Solondz's masterworks. It is unclear, however, whether or not that is meant to be the intention here. Regardless, it doesn't matter much.

Dark Horse features much of Solondz's signatures. The primary element being an assault of drawn out sequences of psychological discomfort, almost always amidst awkward exchanges between two characters who usually don't fully understand each other. There's that, and there's extra-happy pop songs juxtaposed against damned scenarios, and all the bright colors. He still lives and breathes heavy satire very organically.

There is much to enjoy about Dark Horse, but I suppose the primary problem is that none of it is enough to stick with you. It all kind of feels like Solondz LITE and gives us almost zero memorable scenes, unlike his first 4 films, all of which I would call masterpieces, and which are plumb full of images, dialogue, and situations that you will never forget. So, I don't think I'd ever return to this, where as with Welcome To The Dollhouse, Happiness, Storytelling, and Palindromes, I could watch them again and again endlessly. My other primary qualm was that, although lead actor Jordan Gelber did a fantastic job with his part, it's simply too much screen time for a character of that sort. His character is effective, but not the most entertaining. I feel this film would have fared much better as a feature that focuses on multiple characters, or a full ensemble like Happiness - I feel this works best for Solondz's filmmaking style and mood.

That aside, Dark Horse is a solid dark comedy. Though none of it's sharp turns hit very hard, the film is solidly entertaining throughout and does sport it's fair share of twisted philosophy and dialect which will make you simultaneously chuckle but also consider it's profundity. From what I recall, it is better than Solondz's latest, Wiener-Dog, but it doesn't even come close to his first 4 films. It was really nice to see Selma Blair in this role, though - I am quite fond of her. Now, the only Solondz movie I've yet to see is Life During Wartime!

In short - it's a poor story, badly told, with poor dialogue and superficial characters. It has no real message and it doesn't go anywhere. Does that sound harsh? :)

Well, it has no plot, you know - introduction/rising action/culmination/resolution, the basic elements of storytelling? It kinda stops at rising action and then gets lost.

So the whole film is really just a bizarre flow of superficial exchange between inexplicably strange characters. When it begins to look like a story might be unfolding, it implodes on itself in some kind of failed attempt intrigue the viewer with a sudden switch to a dream-inside-a-dream narrative. The ambiguity of such an ending creates no intrigue. It merely underwhelms.

And I have to say I feel sorry for the actors. Christopher Walken and Mia Farrow? What a waste of talent. You know the film industry is in a state when actors of such volume take on such rubbish parts. Sure, Walken has done his share of Z-production films, but this is the first one I have ever seen that made me wonder why, apart from the obvious attraction of his name, did they think he of all people should play this measly part? Not that he did a bad job at it... just... why??? What kind of casting is that!?

The plot: An obnoxious man-child attempts an ill-fated romance with an equally broken woman, while coming to certain realizations about his life.

Dark Horse is not an easy movie to watch, but when have any Todd Solondz movies been easy to watch? His unflinching, brutally honest portrayals of flawed people make him popular with the indie crowd, but it's difficult to recommend his movies to anyone else. It's difficult not to identify with the parade of eternal losers of Solondz's movies, no matter how flawed they are, because, really, these people are us. We might try to deny it, of course, but the truth of the matter is that his movies are just too uncomfortably real for many people to enjoy. You might not be an awkward, depressed girl or an obnoxious, entitled man-child, but there's probably some aspect that you can relate to. If not, then you probably know someone like this. Solondz knows who we are, and he knows our society.

Dark Horse continues a rather surreal and artistic direction for Solondz. Fantasy, dreams, and reality all freely intermix. It might leave some audiences a bit confused, but it's usually pretty obvious which are which. In fact, I really enjoyed some of these scenes, because they opened the door to really inventive narrative and metaphor. In some ways, it was like David Lynch, but without the free-form stream-of-consciousness. These scenes really illustrate the characters better than any traditional scene could. The hilariously banal conversations are another nice touch. Anyone who appreciates irony will certainly enjoy them, though the irony-impaired, I think, will possibly hate this movie.

Solondz's characters have arguably never before been so depressed, bitter, and broken. If you're looking for an uplifting story, full of inspirational and likable characters, this is not the movie for you. Solondz is the undisputed master of strangely sympathetic portraits of society's biggest losers and weirdos. This one will hit pretty close to home for many geeks.

I don't know why the film has such low ratings, because this is a typical representative of 4chan, although I still understood that the inhabitants of 4chan do not have a drop of his self-confidence. Learn while he's alive!

This movie is terrible. I just watched it on on-demand. The beginning is OK. The ending is ?????. You can't figure out if he is dreaming, dead, or just the director's dream. I watched it because it had an IMDb rating of 6.3. I will watch any movie that has a decent amount of reviews and it scores above 6.0 on IMDb. This was the first BAD choice. It must be people voting for it who know the actors or the crew. I can't imagine anyone with their right mind scoring anything but a 2.

If you agree with this review and you didn't like it, please post your review. The overall IMDb review for this movie should be less than 5.

The acting was good but the script? OMG

I'm not one to write bad reviews but I won't get back this 90 minutes of my life back.

A KVIFF screening, my second Todd Solondz's film since HAPPINESS (1998, an 8/10), DARK HORSE is a pretty dark comedy, thoroughly enjoyable, but besides the bountiful gags, wisecracks and well-crafted comedy performances, the film's nucleus is an out-and-out tragedy of an overweight loser, Abe (a niche for recent prospering nerdish protagonist, over 30, living with his parents, working in his father's company, etc.), who is blindly optimistic to embrace his life, pursue his love and all eventually being shattered into pieces.

The film appeals to a more sensible crowd who is yearning a decent comedy without crude schlock, but Todd Solondz's understatement of the misery undertow has its energy accumulated along the storytelling, and delicately finesses the credibility between real world and Abe's illusionary world (with a scene-stealing Donna Murphy in her two-sided role in the two paralleled orbits, unassuming and loving in one and titillating and overweening in another, very much conforms to the comedic tone).

Leading man Jordan Gelber is a no-name, whose plump appearance and happy-go-lucky attitude is quintessentially familiar with anyone who are imbued with soap opera (from small screen) or slapstick (from a bigger screen) mad of U.S.A. A glum-faced Selma Blair is pitch- perfect in her weirdo-with-a-pretty-face disguise, under the premise that still she is way out of Abe's league. Veterans Christopher Walken and Mia Farrow are Abe's parents, stay true in their respectively satirical default, a stubborn father and an indulgent mother.

Although I have missed many Solondz's films between the 14-year-gap, but just compared with HAPPINESS, DARK HORSE is less ambitious and more friendly without many cinematic taboos (I barely remember the details of HAPPINESS, but nothing would erase the boy's sperm at the end of film out of my brain cells in these 14 years), meanwhile is equally funny and provocative, and which should have attracted a broader group of demography to enroll in Solondz's camp.

First I want to make it clear that the reason I disliked this movie is not the subject matter. I like movies about losers and loners and Solondz treated this thoroughly unlikable character with as much dignity as possible. He should be applauded for taking such a risk. I'm not even against the implausibility of the story. Everyone must surrender reality when watching movies. The problem is that it is a poorly made movie. Almost every scene is incomplete. No dialogue to summarize the importance of the scene. Scene after meaningless scene goes by, like looking at pages in a magazine. One scene is even cropped with a character in mid sentence. And a pivotal scene is totally missing: the reason Abe ends up in the hospital. That would have been a very important scene! Then, if you weren't already annoyed with the meandering story, the story goes off into a fantasy. The problem is, the characters in his fantasy are real life characters so you don't know if what you're watching is really happening or the fantasy. Then the movie ends in typical Hollywood fashion, except it seems like Solondz didn't know how to end his movie so he tacked on no less than 4 endings! You will never understand nor care why these characters act the way they do nor understand how the events in the movie changed their lives for the better of worse. By the end of the movie, everybody is sort of just standing around or staring off into space, just like the audience.

Writer-Director Todd Solondz's latest chapter on depicting duds is "Dark Horse". Solondz continues to giddy-up on those who emotionally struggle while others intensify their misery to worsen with their harsh comments. "Dark Horse" stars Jordan Gelber as Abe, a 30-something overweight slacker who still lives with his wealthy parents and also works at a real estate corporation owned by his papa. Not-Honest Abe is lazy in his job, egotistical in his mentality, and charmless in his persona. He also has a huge toy collection; most of them collector's items from the 80's. Anyways, I don't think this "dark horse" of a man-child will get a spectacular bid by the female population for companionship. Abe meets in a wedding a pretty but melancholy woman named Miranda. Miraculously enough or unbelievably enough (take your pick), Miranda takes a liking to Abe and even accepts his wedding proposal. Maybe, Mr. Abe the Dark Horse is hung as a "dark horse". Anyways, moving right along; Abe's mother Phyllis continues to smother him and treat him like a 10 year old, I wonder if she is Cuban? Abe's father Jackie on the other hand has little confidence in Abe due to Abe's lackadaisical ways, and even considers firing him. Abe's brother Richard is a successful good-looking doctor who Abe despises and has a rocky relationship with. Can jealousy be part of that sibling chaos? You think? "Dark Horse" gets out to a rousing start with Solondz' successfully running the "Dark Horse" with sharp writing and direction. But then towards the third act of the film, Solondz derails the "Dark Horse" on the wrong track with unnecessary stale scenes that makes the "Dark Horse" lose it by much more than a nose. I thought the acting of the film was strong. The Gelber Big-Baby (sorry Jordan) Jordan Gelber excelled in his starring performance as Abe. Selma Blair was all there with her effort as Miranda. Veteran thespians Christopher Walken and Mia Farrow were straight as an arrow with their solid work as Abe's parents, Phyllis and Jackie. And Justin Bartha was a believable brother from the same Abe father & mother with his work as Richard. Call it Murphy's Law, but I think Solondz should have cut out completely Donna Murphy's work as a middle-aged secretary who is utilized as a "voice of reason" or in this case more "a voice of reality"; I can understand what Solondz was trying to do, but the whole concept lacked originality mostly due to Murphy's stale performance. "Dark Horse" will not be a dark horse at the next Academy Awards. But I still think you should get on your high horse, and give it a ride. *** Average

"Sweetie, we've written you off as a failure years ago." Abe (Gelber) is a toy collector and a slacker. In his 30's and still living at home with his parents and working for his father (Walken) he is not always happy. He meets Miranda (Blair) at a party and instantly falls in love. He asks her out once then proposes marriage. When a series of events begins Abe's life takes a strange turn. Having never seen a movie by Solondz before I was expecting this to be a comedy. I couldn't have been more wrong. The movie is OK but it's pretty depressing and Gelber does a really good job in this you really feel for his character. Selma Blair also does a pretty good job and they was she plays you are as confused about her as Abe is, which is probably the point. The acting really drives and helps the movie but to me the movie is just to slow moving to make it a high recommend. If you like Solondz movies then you will like this I'm guessing. To me it was OK but hard to get into. Overall, not bad but slow moving and I did get bored a little, up until the end. Which I was not expecting. I give it a C+.

Dark Horse is an extremely dark comedy from Todd Solondz focusing on the life of Abe, a terminal loser who lives with his parents and is stuck in a state of arrested development. The film paints a compelling portrait of Abe, but has a number of weak points.

The film's main selling point is an excellent performance by Jordan Gelber as Abe. He conveys all of Abe's negative qualities while still allowing us to retain sympathy for him. He benefits from good supporting work by Christopher Walken as his unsympathetic father and Donna Murphy as a secretary he fantasizes about.

However, the film suffers from Selma Blair's performance as Abe's love interest, Miranda. Whereas Gelber brings some depth to his performance, Blair really does little more than mope through the whole film. Furthermore, even at roughly eighty minutes of plot, the film drags, with too much emphasis on fantasy sequences in Abe's mind.

Ultimately, the film is worth seeing mainly for Gelber's performance.

this is the worst movie ever made - i literally wanted to kill myself at the end - an absolute waste of two hours of my life that I can never get back....do not watch, or better yet buy it and set it on fire. the plot is absent, there is no point to even watch it. it jumps around so much and shows so much irrelevant and retarded content you don't know what is happening and I'm not sure if i even know what happened to this point. do yourself a favor and watch a porn, the story line is probably better.this is the worst movie ever made - i literally wanted to kill myself at the end - an absolute waste of two hours of my life that I can never get back....do not watch, or better yet buy it and set it on fire. the plot is absent, there is no point to even watch it. it jumps around so much and shows so much irrelevant and retarded content you don't know what is happening and I'm not sure if i even know what happened to this point. do yourself a favor and watch a porn, the story line is probably better.

"You should just face the truth." (Abe) "What is the truth?" (Mom) "That we're all terrible people!"

I like quirky with the best of them, but Dark Horse is not at all as entertaining as director Todd Solondz's Welcome to the Dollhouse and too depressing to promise a dedicated audience of nerds who usually require at least entertaining fare.

This story of an overweight loser, Abe Jordan Gelber (in schlubby Kevin James mode), is so negative that identifying with him is a difficult task for any audience member. Upon meeting another family "dark horse," Abe asks Miranda (Selma Blair) to marry him, as uncool und untimely a request as could be possible.

Yet, these two are soul mates, awkward outsiders with enough hang-ups to people a whole other dysfunctional drama: He collects Simpson's memorabilia and she sports hepatitis b. I just can't find anything else interesting.

Abe works for dad (Christopher Walken), is counseled for real or in dream by loving mom (Mia Farrow), and tries to tolerate his achieving brother (Justin Bartha). Solondz's direction allows intimate involvement with the two dark horses and their families, so there can be no doubt that the expected fates will be unusual to say the least.

Slow and dull, like Abe himself, the film skirts the bold satire characteristic of Solondz's previous work (he even blurs out the Toys 'R Us sign on the store, not once but twice). In the end, you have a portrait of a loser who really doesn't deserve the attention even 86 min gives him. I doubt this small film will be even a dark horse in any competition.