A Case of You

"You could become the man of her dreams if you wanted to." Sam (Long) is a struggling writer who has a crush on Birdie (Wood), the barista at the coffee place he frequents. He has no idea how to approach her until his friend brings up the idea of looking at her Facebook profile. Sam studies what he sees and becomes everything she is looking for. When she begins to fall for him Sam rethinks his choices. I am really becoming a Justin Long fan. In every movie he is in he is very easy to like and very funny. After the amazing Best Man Down movie I was looking forward to seeing this. While this wasn't as good as that one this was still very enjoyable. What could have been a generic cookie cutter romantic comedy was changed just enough to make it interesting and fun to watch. The best part was that it wasn't 100% predictable, more like 90% but still... The movie is more or less about a non-creepy (not totally at least) stalker who gets the girl by not being himself. It had the possibility of being totally creepy and borderline scary but the performances and the writing made it sweet and funny. I did like this quite a bit and recommend it. Overall, the sweetest and least creepy stalker movie I have ever seen. I give this a B+.

This is a pretty good movie if there was an app to write movies using a vast template of clichés, stereotypes and characters and scenes you've seen a few thousand times before. It's not awful and its very well put together. Almost flawless. Technically it's like the robot version of a movie. And without irony, snarky, self criticism either. And to be fair it has some pretty funny small moments. And in a way it's refreshing to see a technically soulless perfect execution of an idea in an era of awful indie anarchist hipster junk still doing bad sound, shaky cam, weak lighting and an incoherent story.

But if you're looking for either something very good or new or interesting or even high drama, sitcom level high drama then no. You'll be disappointed. The machine isn't that sophisticated or adventurous for that. And that's a good thing because it will be entirely predictable, like comfort food.

On paper the story might work but in the film it does not. He fakes it until he makes it? That's not making sense. It's a recipe for disaster, likely to end in murder-suicide. Also, not credibly acted, and the is girl much too consistently nice to be real. Fake on fake!

In the age of social media, dating has become infinitely more complicated, and the ability to pore over your loved one's Facebook profile or Twitter feed to find those little idiosyncracies that make them unique is something we've probably all experienced. But what happens when you start taking it a bit too far?

Written by Justin Long (who also stars), A Case of You follows struggling writer Sam, whose daily trips to a local coffee shop have left him infatuated with the free-spirited Birdie (Evan Rachel Wood). Unfortunately, Birdie loses her job before Sam works up the nerve to ask her out, but never fear - with a little bit of Facebook stalking, Sam can not only find out where she'll be next, he can also begin molding himself into her ideal match.

Yes, it sounds more than a little creepy, but Long is charming and charismatic enough to keep us interested, and Sam's willingness to put himself into incredibly awkward situations in order to impress Birdie result in some humorous exchanges. There are also a few laugh-out-loud moments that come courtesy of Keir O'Donnell as Sam's roommate and Peter Dinklage as a flamboyantly sassy barista.

While amusing at times, A Case of You doesn't stray far from the typical romantic comedy template: boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy learns important life lesson and tries to win girl back. The chemistry between Long and Wood is believable, and watching them together is far from boring, but the film never aspires to be more than a paint-by-numbers affair. It's a decent first effort for screenwriter Long, but certainly nothing that reinvents the genre.

-- Brent Hankins, www.nerdrep.com

Where the romantic comedy A Case of You, starring Justin Long and Evan Rachel Wood, succeeds is ultimately where it missteps. Directed Kat Coiro assembles a terrific cast including the underutilized Sam Rockwell and extremely memorable Peter Dinklage, however, the screenplay that is co-written by Long along with brother Christian and Keir O'Donnell doesn't have a true sense of identity. Tells the story of a young man who thinks he's met the girl of his dreams and attempts to court her by all interests and statuses from her Facebook page.

In an era where social media is prevalent and dating becomes the new norm via a tweet or a poke, the story rings true in many ways. However, the misguided title and evolution of events don't exactly scream fresh and unique. Coiro manages some very funny moments and gets some decent outcomes from some of the cast particularly Evan Rachel Wood and Peter Dinklage. In its short running time, the film doesn't exactly feel smooth and polished in the way a comedy needs to be.

With all the obvious flaws, A Case of You is still very entertaining and enjoyable. Sam Rockwell is memorable in his few moments on-screen along with Vince Vaughn and Brendan Fraser. Check it out when you can.

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