Jump Tomorrow

A low-budget romantic comedy - one of many in recent years, unfortunately - with unfunniness in all of its inglorious drawn out entirety. Indie movies used to be - whether good or bad - fairly original and stayed away from some basic Hollywood cliché genres: such as the romantic comedy. With all those Grant/Bullock or Hanks/Ryan or Clooney/Pfeiffer sappy movies around, why would an "auteur", an "indie rebel", dirty his hands with that clap-trap? He would, and he will and he wants to because he is a BAD "auteur".

Written/directed by a certain Joel Hopkins, the movie is predictable and dull. The black guy and the attractive female cast are likable enough, but the movie treads very familiar territory. The guy who is supposed to be French (but has more of a Spanish accent, the twit) is supposed to provide most of the laughs but the script is crap and he has no talent. It's sort of like a Hal Hartley film, minus the good dialog and the originality.

This movie is very light. All characters are very well in there roles, specially Natalia Verbeke, that is very beautiful and passional in this movie. And i can't forget about the score. All musics are very similar to brazilian "bossa nova". The soundtrack gives a very pleasant atmosphere to this movie.

This is what a genuine love story should be all about. I was amazed I had never heard of this film and how truly good it is. The writing, directing and acting are truly superb. All the characters are likable, except the obvious ones, and one seems to form a bond with them. Whether it be true friendship, love, emotions, feelings... well, this film has it all. There is great chemistry between Adebimpe and Verbeke. Girardot serves as a dysfunctional guardian angel to Adebimpe and as comic relief in scenes where there is supposed to be some tension. Although, this film is completely hilarious. Love may not be a science, but it is honestly such a complex subject to understand. Just go with the flow and watch this excellent film.

I mean the story was simple, production was fine although the budget obviously wasn't in the 10s of millions of dollars and I never quite understood why George and Alicia liked each other so much. But despite all of that I sat in the theater very happy that I took a chance on this one. I think the spartan production made the whole thing seem more real, and since it seemed more real I wanted them to be happy... The characters were all very likeable too, like Gerard and Alicia's aunt. Finally, bonus points for not using subtitles (hey, I understood most of the Espanol!).

Well this film I think is more about sighing than laughing...

Saw the preview of this long ago, in a lifetime before kids, and back then thought that my wife and I would enjoy this film. Finally watched it recently and for me the film held up its part of the bargain.

I think some of the disappointment for this film is a bit heavy-handed for a very indie film from a first-time director. The film is somewhere between quaint and cute, and there is a time and place for that, no? The french version of Cupid was a bit trying on my nerves, but absolutely essential...and even he is given his epiphany, as are the male and female romantic interests, the initially wrongly-aimed arrows of love. They are both exotic on the outside, but all too familiar. It may be that the mute uncle says the most, but then less is often more.

Still, I think for many this film will have an appeal, as many people feel that they are on the wrong track of the wrong life at times. Having the male as the demure one also should have made this more appealing to my wife, but for some reason she did not get caught up in the film. I thought he was exceptionally well cast, and while he's probably nowhere near that awkward in real life, he certainly tapped into a neurosis as old as the Euphrates.

The Walter Mitty fantasies that George/Jorge uses for his form of losing himself worked less as comedy for me, but more as an underscoring of George's lack of ownership of his own life.

Many of the films loose ends were nicely tied together, and using Niagara Falls as the climactic setting, was a crucial cliché. Taking the plunge was well paralleled.

I see the next film from this director had him working with Dustin Hoffman, I'll check it out hopefully. But perhaps director/writer Joel Hopkins was not the indie wunderkind (or wunderBrit) I suspected. As mentioned in another review, he did license "Instant Karma" for a pivotal scene (and the words worked quite well I thought...).

Anyways that film looks like it touches on the despair and redemption of love too, so I'll try to entice my wife to watch that with me.

6.5/10 Thurston Hunger