If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

How sad is this?

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Very lackluster attempt to show drama of grieving parents.

My wife and I found this movie dull, interesting and lacking any real spark. The first 3rd of the movie was okay, the middle 1/3 was totally boring and the final 1/3 a bit more interesting. The movie really seemed to drag for a while in the middle as so many movies do, they take what should be a 50-minute script and try to make a movie out of it. The acting in this movie is good, but they simply can't save what isn't there to begin with. There simply isn't enough character development or interesting moments in the story to make this a good film. At no point do we see the back story of why the couple became estranged or what led their son to go on a killing spree. I guess due to this being a low budget film or 1st time director there is no variation in the film and it is flat throughout. A very reserved film style that lacks anything fresh or original. I'd love to see someone write a movie on this subject again, only this time do it the right way.

Kate (Maria Bello) and Bill (Michael Sheen) are a struggling couple who are sleeping in separate rooms. He's looking at apartments while she still hopes to save the marriage with the next family vacation. Their son Sammy (Kyle Gallner) is away at college. He's miserable and he goes on a shooting spree killing himself and many others. The onslaught of media forces them to stay with her brother Eric (Alan Tudyk) and his wife Trish (Moon Bloodgood).Bello and Sheen are using all their acting skills to drive this movie. The movie strips away all the power. The shooting takes place off screen. The movie doesn't allow Sammy to explain his actions. Kyle Gallner just doesn't have much screen time. It's all about the parents struggle to find meaning. It's a movie of misery. It's admirable but it grinds down the audience with its unrelenting bleakness.

American choreographer and film director Shawn Ku's feature film debut which he co-wrote with screenwriter Michael Armbruster, is inspired by his family's personal connection to the Virginia High Tech massacre, the deadliest shooting incident by a single gunman in U.S history, which took place on 16. April 2007 in Blacksburg, Virginia and the unexpected death of a visiting friend. It premiered in the Zabaltegi-New Directors section at the 58th San Sebastián International Film Festival in 2010, was screened in the Discovery section at the 35th Toronto International Film Festival in 2010 and is an American production which was shot on location in Los Angeles and Santa Clarita, California in USA and produced by producers Lee Clay and Eric Gozlan. It tells the story about business man Bill Carroll and proof-reader Kate Caroll, a conflicted married couple who is on the verge of separating when they learn that their 18-year-old son Sam has shoot numerous students at his university, including himself. To get away from the media Bill and Kate move in with Kate's brother Eric and his wife Trish, but as time goes by they begin to question themselves as parents and is tormented by questions of why and how their son could have ended up doing what he did and if they could have done anything to prevent it.Finely and acutely directed by American filmmaker Shawn Ku, this quietly paced fictional tale which is narrated from the two main character's point of view, draws a compassionate and intimate portrayal of a married couple's struggle to recuperate and find their way back to each other after being left in shock and devastation by their young son. While notable for it's naturalistic milieu depictions, low-keyed production design by Hungarian production designer and art director Gabor Norman and realism, this dialog-driven indie and psychological drama depicts two dense and interrelated studies of character and contains a good score by Canadian composer Trevor Morris.This at times heartrending, at times romantic, at times humorous and at times afflicting love-story which examines themes like grief, guilt, marriage and love, is impelled and reinforced by it's subtle character development and the heartfelt and empathic acting performances by English actor Michael Sheen and American actress and singer Maria Bello. An authentic and humane character piece which gained, among other awards, the FIPRESCI Prize at the 35th Toronto International Film Festival in 2010.