If I Were You

This is one of the best comedies I have seen in years - I go to the movies a lot! The writing is smart, philosophical, quick witted. The plot comes up with surprise after surprise. You cannot predict the next move at all. The film is laugh-out-loud funny. The audience will put themselves in the shoes of these wonderfully rich characters and go through a fun emotional journey. Zany but plausible! The acting is stellar. I've always been a big fan of Marcia Gay Harden so I am thrilled to see her in a film of this caliber. The big question is "Why isn't this film in more theaters? I accidentally stumbled on this film. If not for that, I never would have seen it. Why? Marketing people ... distribution people ... GET THIS FILM TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC! We need to laugh ... not AT people which happens so often in films these days ... we need to laugh along with the genius of this film!

If I Were You (2012)

Be careful—the first twenty minutes of this movie is so bad (or bad seeming) with improbable dialog and kind of "stupid" characters (and maybe inept actors). Or so it all appears. Keep watching. This smooths out quickly, and you get used to the farcical style, so that by the end it all seems normal and pretty fun.

The idea is simple, and explained really well in the movie. Two women find they can't make good decisions for themselves, so they agree to make decisions for each other. Big stuff, like whether to date someone, or what to say to end a relationship. And so when a biggie comes up they have to call the other person for instructions.

This is tied together brilliantly by a simple first scene (which doesn't give much away, but skip this paragraph if you want the first five minutes of the movie untouched). One woman sees her husband cheating on her with the other (younger) woman. The older woman then sees the younger buy the stuff for a suicide, so follows her to save her. The younger woman thinks this is absolutely beautiful (which it is). And the friendship and the pact are formed.

But of course there is this secret lingering, and a husband who calls (and gets calls from) the two women for different reasons.

As you can imagine, the complications are hilarious.

The other theme that gets going is King Lear, the play, and how the two women get involved with that and why. It's a nice layer that actually doesn't get used very well until near the end when the older woman gives a eulogy quoting the Shakespeare she's been learning. The fellow actors are all terrible on purpose, but they are also thin and clumsy in the movie, especially the director who overacts to distraction.

By contrast, our two women play their roles to a kind of comic perfection. The older, played by Marcia Gay Harden, is actually the key protagonist, and is wonderful. Her younger friend, Leonor Watling, is terrific, too, and a perfect complement. Whatever the other outcomes of the movie, you end up hoping these rivals become good friends.

If you grew up in the 70s and 80s, you'll recognise the Neil Simon pretense of this movie. Though it has neither the fast pace nor the wicked writing of a Simon production, it's well done and entirely worth an evening's light viewing.

The depiction of a main character in an agonising predicament, but whose basic decency wins out time and again over her broken heart, is rare in popular culture, and brilliantly performed by Marcia Gay Harden.

Loved it! I just stumbled upon this movie on new releases on Netflix and was watching it while working in my studio. It is funny without being cute, poignant at times without being maudlin and downright fun.

I love the premise of the movie, the likes of which I've not experienced elsewhere - and heaven knows it's rare to find a new plot!

Although Marcia Gay Harden steals the show, I think the other actors effectively support her lead.

I don't often watch any film more than once, but I would watch this again with someone who's seeing it for the first time, for sure. The last romantic comedy that fit this category for me is Love Actually, which is one of the few movies I own and enjoy watching periodically.

I only recently discovered this little gem on Netflix and I was really impressed. This independent film is everything that so many Hollywood films aren't (anymore): complex, interesting, challenging, funny. The acting (especially Marcia Gay Harden and Aidan Quinn) is excellent. Despite its 2-hour run-time and complex plot, it never bogs down. Director Joan Carr-Wiggin does an admirable job of keeping the story moving and relatable through all the twists and turns of the plot and subplots. In fact, the story itself mirrors the Shakespearean structure with intrigue, mistaken or confused identities, poignant subtext, etc. And to top it all off, there's no formulaic development or "Hollywood ending" to ruin the great story! This film is truly delightful and its a shame that it did so unbelievably poorly at the box-office. The critics have not done it justice, either, giving one-line reviews that make me wonder if they even watched it. If you check on Rotten Tomatoes, you'll see that the audience score is around 70%, while the critic's score is at 9%! Definitely a disconnect with reality, in my opinion. It's not a perfect film, and if IMDb allowed it I would have given it an 8.5, but it's certainly MUCH better than its critical ratings and box-office earnings indicate.