emilymcmannes

I am not a fan of dumb comedy. At all. Nor am I a Matt Damon fan (no offense, just sort of 'meh'). I also saw the runtime (two hours fifteen) and I was thinking I'd turn it on to fall asleep to. Boy, was I off base.

I ended up transfixed and staying up exactly two and a half hours later than I wanted to first watch this magnificent movie and then stay up fifteen minutes longer to write this review. My wife had gone to bed so didn't get to see it, so I will be watching it again tomorrow so that she can see it.

I think it probably has a pretty specific audience, and those giving bad reviews just don't get it. It was funny, yes, but not overtly so. Moving, yes, not overtly so. Great performances by all of the cast, most especially Matt Damon and even more so Hong Chau. I had not heard of her before and will seek out more movies featuring this actress.

The film takes you all over the place in a great way. I didn't even pause it long enough to get up for popcorn. Excellent film.

And why did I sit through it? I have been a user of IMDb for years but never bothered to sign in to write a review. This movie compelled me to do so, and not in a good way.

Actually, it may have been a good movie had it been made oh...30 or so years ago. But the plot has been done sooooooo many times now that every single second was predictable. The acting was bland (other than the young Asian woman who actually had a bit of a range other than 'smiling teenager', 'terrified teenager' or 'stalker teenager'). I have no idea whose idea it was to make this movie but it was a bad one. I was reminded immediately of 'Swim Fan' and going even further back, when Mark Whalberg was just past his Marky Mark phase and made 'Fear' with a young Reese Whitherspoon. Not to mention all of the zillions of Lifetime movies with the same plot, all of the excellently done Scream films, and even some elements of Beverly Hills 90210. Gah.

Don't waste your time.