highlyvenemous

I was really prepared to not like this picture. I had seen the trailer and read about it and it just seemed so.....predictable. But when I finally got around to getting the DVD and watching it, I was pleasantly surprised. This is just the kind of story that grabs you even if you feel yourself resisting it. It was also interesting to me because it's one of the few movies in a long time that my mom and could watch together, and I guess that's a good thing. She liked it more than I did and I think it made her think a lot about some things in her own life. I thought Rachel McAdams was really amazing -- there is something about her looks, the way her skin is so translucent, that you feel like you can really feel everything she feels and understand her character better than with other actors. Ryan Gosling was also good -- hot without trying to hard to be a "hottie". And James Garner -- what a cool old guy. My mom made me watch him in his "Maverick" days and I'm glad I did. It made the character he plays here seem more understandable and compelling.

I watched this movie on DVD with my boyfriend and I had pretty low expectations. After seeing it I would say that as message movies go, this one is not bad. Mika Boorem is good and believable....it's a shame her career hasn't gone anywhere since this. I thought the locations were really interesting and intense. Sometimes I felt like it was a little heavy-handed and its earnestness kind of got in the way of what could have been a better story if it wasn't quite so predictable.

It does make you contemplate just how fortunate we are to grow up in a place where if you're born with cleft palate or something like that, it gets fixed and you can go about your life. I think the "Operation Smile" people are doing some very good work, and this movie is part of that effort and should be respected in a way that's different than the way you would think about simple "fun" movies.