The Dive from Clausen's Pier

I haven't read the book, but even so, I thought the movie was far from good. It's supposed to be... well, the movie doesn't make that all too clear. We learn that main character Carrie wants to become something else, and that's about it. From reading other comments, though, I've learned that it is supposed to be about a young woman's journey to find herself and face her demons. I'm not sure about WHAT demons...

The movie, in short, is about Carrie's boyfriend Mike breaking his back diving, and Carrie breaking up with him (not because of the injury) and going off to New York to get a life, so to speak. She meets supposedly mysterious 35-year-old Kilroy and they become a couple. Then everybody leads complicated lives for a while, and she finally goes home - although the movie does not reveal for what reasons.

This movie confused me a bit right from the start, mostly because of the very young appearances of the characters; in the opening scenes we see Carrie (Michelle Trachtenberg) and her boyfriend, and him giving her a ring, at the same time as her voice tells the story of their several years long relationship - and the first thought that popped into my head was: "So, you met when you were like 9?" Sadly, in my opinion, she never rises to the challenge of portraying a young woman in this movie, but stays on a teenager-trying-to-act-adult level (it doesn't help that she looks and sounds like 15-16), which makes a lot of her lines and her relationship with Kilroy literally unbelievable. She's too young to play the part.

Meanwhile, Kilroy (Sean Maher) is, I guess, supposed to be this mysterious, secretive handsome stranger, but to me he seems exaggerated and a bit over-acted. Also, there doesn't seem to be the least bit of chemistry between him and Michelle Trachtenberg. I'd guess they were brother and kid sister sooner than lovers.

All in all, the movie felt unnecessary. Nothing that pulled me in and kept me concentrated, but rather something to mindlessly doze to. We never get to see past the surface of any character, and the story is high-paced in a bad way.

This is the first time I have seen Michelle Trachtenberg in an adult role. She still looks like a cute kid but her acting talent puts her into the character as a twenty-something. Probably not an Emmy role but notable just the same. The gal is good!

The DP got the angles and lighting right, but a note to the costume designer and/or director: She looks good in colors other than black.

The story did have a few interesting turns. I can see why it was a best selling book...and why it was made into to a Lifetime movie. If you like them (I do), you will like this one, too. The ending (and Michelle) left me begging for a sequel or maybe a short series.

I didn't think the lead actress had enough depth and gravitas to carry off the part of the main character, who while eliciting some empathy is far from sympathetic- She seemed very remote and vacant. Although I can't tell how much of the fault with this character lies with the script. The Kilroy character seemed to be an overgrown, immature, poseur and I could not see how any woman would find this attractive. The character of Mike kept apologizing to Carrie but I'm not sure what for. He seemed to be quite the forgiving guy. And even if he wasn't a quadriplegic, he still came across as the most mature and sympathetic amongst this love triangle. I did not read the book and after viewing this movie I wouldn't want to. I have to disagree with another reviewer's opinion that "the cast, without exception, was one-dimensional and juvenile" and that the movie "seemed like a teenybopper soap opera". I thought with the exception of Carrie and Kilroy, the casting was fairly good. The cast of young twenty-something's did not look like your typical O.C. or One Tree Hill gang and the acting chops were certainly a cut above your typical soap opera characters. The casting was probably the only good thing about the movie. And I didn't see this as a typical teenybopper soap opera, just your typical disappointing Wifetime -movie of the week.

I expected the Dive from Claussens pier to be at least 3 stars since the book was completely amazing, but i was quite disappointed..This movie just didn't excite me, and i don't think Michelle whatever her last name is should of been the lead..she seemed far to young, and bored me to death..The rest of the cast seemed to be OK..you most likely would not know any of there names, because they've only been in a few movies..So i guess this move was OK, but i really don't recommend watching it..but i do recommend reading the book!! It was interesting, had an excellent plot, and was not at all boring

Megan

I thought this movie was an OK movie. I never read the book but I really want to. I'm sure I'll like the book more when I read it than the movie but that's besides the point. I thought the story was OK and the thing I really liked was Michelle Tractenberg in this movie. I'm so tired of her playing a teenager or an immature character in some really stupid kiddie movie. In this movie however; I really liked her acting because she got to play a grown up. In real life, she is like 20 and I'm so sick and tired of her playing a kid so this was great. I think if she was given more roles to play as a grown up,her talent would really show. The one thing I didn't like was the ending. It kind of left you hanging on what happened and didn't really explain. I'm hoping the book is better. That's all I liked about this movie.