Funny Ha Ha

Films like this naturally annoy and disappoint many people, and it isn't hard for me to see why. This movie is plotless, not much really happens, and the ending is not an ending at all, if anything it is an anti-ending, which I found fitting. There is no real way to conclude this film unless all the main characters die in some way, or something much bigger happens to them, but anything like that at all would be totally out of place here. The point of this film is to depict the daily lives of some characters, dig deep into their emotions and thoughts, and then carelessly shrug as the film cuts to a solid black that feels especially opaque considering how seemingly random it is. The movie just ends in the middle of a scene that could easily have gone on for another few minutes, and led into some other scene which would then lead to yet another. The film has no real beginning, either. It opens up on a quick, insignificant little moment as the main character drunkenly looks around a tattoo shop and talks with the tattooist for a couple of minutes and he explains why he doesn't give tattoos to drunk people and then the scene kind of rambles off into termination. For me, the movie was very interesting and enjoyable to watch. The comedy was fittingly mild and usually rather uncomfortable, the atmosphere was lifelike but interesting, the main character was good company to be around, and those around her were fascinating in their own ways. The movie has emotion, but it also has moments of total dullness. It's entertaining, but also kind of boring, which doesn't make any sense but it's true anyway. It's a witty movie partially about relationships or lack of relationships, and it handles things with a sharp, and sometimes excruciatingly awkward, sense of humor as well as slight sorrow.

Looking like a documentary, this movie captures well life at the age of the characters, that I remember when I was that age: direction-less and insecure. The problem is, a glimpse into people's personal lives aren't necessarily interesting, and I wanted more to happen or for the story to be more interesting. I also wondered why characters we saw a lot of in the beginning of the movie, simply disappeared with no explanation. Alex's unexpected marriage was never explained, nor did Marnie seem to try to find out how this marriage came about. In keeping with the theme of a segment of someone's life snipped out randomly and put on film, the ending provided no resolution to anything, but I felt it could have been less abrupt and arbitrary.

This seemed to be just the kind of movie I enjoy, but turned out to be a shell of the same.

The director gets some things right, like his choice of star and some of the scene pacing. Dialog and character interactions breathe properly; they're languid and yet vaporous, as some other reviewers have said.

Too bad they all come to nothing. Marnie's a vacuous amalgam, not a character; she's the camera, not a human being. Encounters and relationships don't build through sequence or consequence; almost nothing happens that informs or affects a subsequent scene. Through her, we see the other characters, who are almost universally portrayed by much lesser actors. There's no character arc; the script feels self-indulgent and ultimately trivial. The entire movie is Marnie amused, Marnie bemused, Marnie bored... audience bored.

Bujalski had the pieces to make a remarkable film, but instead he never got the transmission out of neutral.

Very slooooow... You'll probably have a couple of smiles but you won't be able to stop checking your watch and wondering when it is going to end. Don't waste your time unless you're really deep into independent movies.

where have we heard this before? Ah yes, Woody Allen on down to his character actor acquaintance Larry David (creator of Seinfeld), etc...., etc.... Yes, it was once a novel idea. In 1979.

Has anyone who watched this ever seen Woody Allen's "Manhattan"? you will be interested in the parallels.

This was filmed primarily in Allston and Cambridge, and I agree with an early reviewer, who stated that a mirror image of his own single life there was reflected. Imagine each person living in The Back Bay or South End with a similar story. After all everyone has experienced the void of dating, working in Boston,(or any metro area city) and going home alone on your birthday. Not exactly earth shattering.

Kate Dollenmayer is not bad as the primary character, but Andrew Bujalski has so many Allen-like mannerisms, it is almost embarrassing to watch. The only members of the audience who will not pick this out would have to be 17 years old, at most.

There are a few decent scenes, the awkwardness Kate feels with an old boyfriend, the vacuous conversation at a keg party, but really; is this considered different?. If it is, then next time you or I go to the supermarket we should tag along someone with a handy cam, start a conversation, and we too would be considered a writer/director.