Touches You

Powerful

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I avoided ANY QUESTIONS FOR BEN? on its release as I simply didn't like the title and after watching a slew of uninteresting contemporary Australian comedies I decided to give the film a miss. I watched the it this evening on a streaming channel and was surprised to find I liked it as much as I did ... which may not be saying much. I wasn't aware this was a Working Dog production (the team who made The Castle and The Dish, as well as numerous highly successful and very funny television shows) and while it lacks the laugh out loud comedy of their earlier films, it contains a conventional rom-com formula that works fairly well. Title character Ben (Hosh Lawson) is in his late twenties and although a university drop-out, he has built a high-profile reputation in marketing. Admired and envied by his friends, Ben lives in the CBD with his two best mates and spends his nights and weekends socialising and hopping from one tryst to the next. After returning as a guest speaker to his alma mater, Ben meets up with old university friend Alex (Rachel Taylor) and learns she is working for the UN in Yemen. Both Ben and Alex address the current students at their old school and talk about their careers. During question time, the students have loads of questions for Alex but no one has questions for Ben - thus the film's awkward title. This causes an existential crisis for Ben who suddenly finds himself in searching for meaning. There is a hint of Woody Allen here that reminds me of Annie Hall, Another Woman and Hannah and Her Sisters (though not at all in the same league) where Manhattan protagonists stop moving long enough to suddenly recognise that their lives are meaningless. Ben becomes fixated on Alex but finds that his old habits are hard to break as his fear to commit to anything longterm gets in the way of meaningful relationships. It is difficult to try and decipher what it is the Working Dog team are trying to say with their film. While Ben's friends are not unlikeable, there is a general lack of depth to any of them except Ben who feels increasingly isolated and alone in his angst-ridden journey even as he continually tries and fails to reach out to friends and family and connect on a more intimate level. In the end, Ben makes a decision to stay with this job and his apartment after having led a a life of transient affluence throughout his twenties. This extends to his relationship with Alex and he finally gets enough gumption to put himself on the line for love. After flitting about Melbourne hot spots throughout the film, the ultimate message of the film seems to be that the solution for soullessness can be found in a highly conservative formula of work and family values ... yet after meeting Ben's parents, even this seems hollow. Is there a deeper cynical agenda at work for the Working Dog team? Maybe, although I'm thinking this is more my reading of the film as I seriously doubt they are clever enough to pull off cynicism with a lightness of touch.The constant socialising at prominent Melbourne venues and festivals captured in fast paced montage as well as the deluge of aerial shots of the CBD certainly show off just how much the city of Melbourne has to offer - and what is shown of this beautiful southern city is not even half of what there is, especially as the film rarely wonders outside the space of the CBD to explore its rich cafe culture, theatre and arts - yet the constancy and excessiveness of shots of Melbourne seem like the film has been sponsored by a tourist information group. This might be a love letter to Melbourne, yet the film ends by ultimately showing that one has to fly to Yemen to actually find love.

The story concept is great, really something I'd enjoy watching, I love marketing, love personal development, love romance. So a story of someone realising they're not quite doing life the way that leads to fulfillment is a good one. Love interest thrown in? You're onto a winner! Except that it's not a good movie, it shows twice as much information than is needed to make a point in the plot. The main character just comes across as a complete ass who has no feelings for anyone, barely himself. The "Mentor" character is awful, seriously, why would anyone take "advice" from someone like this? Some of the lines are just plain awful, I would class them at the level of high school kids learning how to write a screen play. A decent editor would have helped, to stop it getting boring but it would have simply moved my rating from a 3 to a 4.5 at best. The characters just weren't congruent/realistic, one scene where his friends fiancé supposedly is so frustrated with his attitude comes out of the blue and doesn't make any sense whatsoever.. Another point Ben is amazed that Alex can speak fluent Arabic, you'd have thought she'd just discovered the theory of relativity, or something similar that is truly amazing, rather than learned to speak the language of the country she's lived and worked in for years... Watching movies like this makes you realise just how good really great directors and editors actually are, you don't notice their skills because it just makes the film seamless, and enjoyable, and one that you can emotionally connect and empathise with the characters. I think the story told is a common one, avoidance of intimacy but it's done very clumsily. If I were involved in the making of this movie I would consider it a "Learning experience"... If you want to watch a movie that could have been brilliant, but was destroyed by poor screen writing, poor direction, and poor editing, this is the movie for you!

My fondness for romantic films drove me to this one. The premise is standard albeit timeless.The film has a good pace, the protagonist Josh Lawson is pretty good as a guy who gets to the right places at the right time. Rachael Taylor is nice too, as are Ben's mates. Some good lines of humour add to the story pace.Australia is shown as a pretty hip place to be (it is!)Where the film seems self-limiting is the chemistry between Ben and Alex. It seems stand-offish. That someone is unwilling to finish off something that has been started is not good enough reason to weave a full story and film.The Yemen proposal scene at the end was at best, clumsy and cheesy. Lacked the chutzpah the early part of the film had.If chief failure seems to be its limp ending. Its almost like bad sex. Seems promising at the start; you don't mind the experience but really wish it was better.

Don't bother watching this movie unless you want to watch a narcissistic rich boy complaining about his almost perfect life and how hard it is, and sit through the worst editing you have ever seen used in a film...then go ahead :)So apparently I have to have 10 lines of text so I'll continue by telling you about how terrible the love interest (played by Rachel Taylor) is. Throughout the whole movie, Ben is blowing her off and screwing her around CONSTANTLY and every single time she just forgives him, just like that. I mean REALLY!Has it been 10 lines yet?