Fresh and Exciting

Don't Believe the Hype

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

I just watched this movie today. It was interesting, but weird in the beginning, and I must admit I rented it only to see Alan Rickman, an actor I've enjoyed watching thoroughly since I saw him in Die Hard and Quigley Down Under. (I actually liked him more than Bruce Willis or Tom Selleck and they were both pretty hunky) Alan Rickman is one of those actors who frequently plays villains that I truly love watching, (Gary Oldman being another) They are both handsome in offputting ways and have something about them that makes them unique. (loads of acting talent, mesmerizing voice, deep eyes) Anyway, at first I was intrigued by the story of young Stella, but I was quickly bored after not seeing Mr. Rickman more than halfway through the movie. I fastwarded some and saw him riding in on his motorcycle and then enjoyed the rest of the movie until he fell off the boardwalk....boo!!! I wouldn't recommend this film unless you like convoluted stories about nasty people doing nasty things to each other. I would however, recommend it for the acting, in that vein, it's pretty believable.

I went into this movie expecting a comedy, and, where I may have chuckled a few times, it wasn't a very funny movie. The acting was good, and, as always, Alan Rickman shines in the role of P.L. O'Hara (and he NEEDS to do Hook in a production of Peter Pan!) I just felt ripped off by this movie. I watched the whole thing waiting for Meredith Baxter (Hugh Grant) to get some kind of come-uppance and it never happened.This movie left me sad and very disillusioned about the human race in general.I can't recommend this film to anyone, and I don't know how they ended up classifying it as anything but a dark, tragic drama.

I've been curious about this movie for a long time. I finally saw it on IFC.It was great! In this age of VERY expensive, predictable, committee-approved "art", I was relieved to watch this story unfold. Although I suspected early on about the relationship between Cates and Rickman's characters, it's execution was much better than the usual pap that pretends to be a surprise or twist.Or even interesting.The real twists in this story, was its own mirror of the real human forces and decisions that keep some of the sweetest, and unfortunately, worst stories going on. The twists were the tiny reasons why such things, sometimes painful and abhorrent to our collective cultural sense of what's right and decent in a society, to continue within it.The hypocrisy of denying that these dark parts of ourselves exist often cause them to continue. Often times, the self-appointed moral-police of our culture make this inevitable in their pursuit of human frailty, the aftermath of its hunt, and the white-washing of the events (and non-events) they discovered.No character represented total evil, good, decadence or purity, including Stella. She had as much (subtle) emotional weaponry with her, as she had emotional scars.Many Americans don't like, or have been trained (over time) to not have patience for such imperfect main-characters in fiction anymore. The one-dimensional, mass-marketed character, is the norm here now.That's sad. Because of that, this movie (and others like it) didn't do very well here.Having this story take place within the entertainment industry is an excellent way of displaying so much of the world's human tragedy AND stupidity being covered up by some people's treachery, some people's nobility, or a combination of both.And even at the end of this tale, all of the stage crew, like life itself, executed their own particular versions of the adage, "The show must go on."No perfect hollywood story here, with it's base and stupid doling out of come-uppance of everyone's flaws...or Evil.

I remember going to see An Awfully Big Adventure. It's an experience that has remained with me ever since, because it is so horrifyingly awful.Possibly intended as some whimsical and poignant look at the theatre of yesteryear, this is a film that fails to engage on any level. Believe me, I'm as much up for a piece of heavy cinema as the next arthouse fancier, but this really is pushing the levels of patience. As one of my (usually well-behaved) friends said, 'When will this dirge end?'. The problem is that nothing happens. And by the time it does, you've lost all interest, and possibly the will to live. In one of the film's final moments there's a scene (I won't divulge, although please don't take this as an encouragement to see the thing) which is clearly meant to be shocking and emotional. It isn't. Because by that stage of utter audience despair, it could only mean one thing - that it must be nearly over. People have tried for some time to name things that I would less like to do than watch An Awfully Big Adventure (or AABA as I now know it, to limit the horror of reliving the moment) again. Nobody has yet come up with anything. Don't make the same mistake I did. Avoid