Great Film overall

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

In my opinion, "Dead Awake" is like a movie made by someone who doesn't like movies. There is nothing from the start to the finish of this "film" that interesting.I bought (yes, I bought) this film on blu-ray because I am a fan of both Amy Smart and Rose McGowan. I've watched quite a few films that feature each of these two ladies, and I have never failed to be entertained by their films.Enter "Dead Awake." Confusing from the beginning, it never engaged me in any way. I didn't feel anything while watching this movie that even resembled suspense, wonder, happiness, sadness, or excitement. Maybe I felt slightly annoyed a few times, but that is about as strong of an emotion that I felt.Nick Stahl's character was an unlikable "Dylan Downer" who has basically given up on life after his parents are killed in a car accident. Nothing he does makes any sense - especially the preposterous idea that he would fake his own funeral just to see if anyone would show up. Real people that suffer from depression would never consider anything so emotionally risky as this.A down and out junkie Charlie (Rose McGowan) wanders in to his fake funeral (after the place is closed), and eventually has a conversation with Dylan's long lost love Natalie (Amy Smart) who also waits until the funeral is over to show up (yet, young Dylan continues to lay in his coffin.) All this eventually leads to Dylan hanging out with Charlie, and rekindling his feelings for Natalie.Natalie is engaged to a soon to be successful lawyer type who undoubtedly will give her wealth, but maybe not true love. When Dylan finds Charlie passed out in her bathroom from a drug overdose, he gets her to the hospital. Surprise! Her nurse turns out to be Natalie. So they start talking and... Numerous coincidences link all of the main characters in a way that only a poorly written story can do. By the time it is over, I just didn't care what happened. I just wanted it to end.So save your time and money. Sit this one out. But if you just have to see this film, I will be listing it on eBay in a few minutes.

After seeing the low scores on this film, I was encouraged to write a review as this film is worthy of a Seven, not the Four or lower most viewers have given it. The film has an excellent cast including Nick Stahl (Of Terminator Fame), Rose McGowan, and Amy Smart (both extremely under-rated actresses who can do comedy, drama, horror, thrillers, you name it and extremely attractive without being model gorgeous at the same time) as well as two lesser known actors playing the Irish "parent substitutes" for Nick Stahl's character, Dylan.The film is basically a thriller that leaves you guessing as to Dylan's fate. Is he alive or dead? Is he talking to ghosts? This has been compared by other reviewers to "Sixth Sense" and I would agree. In essence, Dylan still hasn't come to terms with the death of his parents and assisting a crack addict, Charlie (Rose McGowan) finds redemption as does she. Meanwhile, with Charlies guidance, he rediscovers his old high school sweetheart, Natalie (Amy Smart), and is able to rekindle a romance that should never have ended.So what does this film offer? It keeps you guessing as an excellent thriller should; the presence of the ?undead? and the fact Dylan works in a funeral home lend an element of fantasy, mystery, and eeriness; the rekindled relationship and flashbacks with Natalie provide romance; and most of all, all of the three main characters achieve some form of redemption. Seven Stars, would recommend to anyone and would watch again.

The only thing I can say about this: random. The story is pretty random and the execution is pretty poor. The story skips and jumps around like a rubber ball and there is no consistency in the characters. The acting is so awful that the makers had to resort to in-your-face scoring to push the viewer into the mood they couldn't achieve through good story telling. Nothing adds up in the end and you're left with a feeling that neither writer nor director have have any idea about how to make a compelling movie.But what really ruined the movie for me were the two Irish characters. Brian Lynner as Decko was just as untalented as a B-class actor can get and his Irish accent was a completely annoying farce. Mixing Scottish and a few local Irish accents just made me want to turn off the sound every time that guy opened his mouth. Who ever casted him should hang their heads in shame. Same goes for the character of his wife, whose name I am too lazy to look up.Do yourself a favor and skip this one. This movie is boring, unimaginative and annoying.

This movie was really good and I'm not to sure why it got so many bad reviews. This movie made me think of "After.Life" but I am not sure why maybe because the eeriness that was in both of them? Just the feel of it I suppose. Anyways it is about a man who has gone through a tragedy and then somehow when he fakes his death the person who caused the tragedy somehow lives through it and gets to make amends. Doing so the whole movie leads you through twists and turns and leaves clues of the ending throughout, I knew what was going on. Boy gets girl the dead passes on after amends, kind of like the usual but written differently and uniquely. On a side note at times I felt it was awfully slow and could have been written better to pick up speed and get you into it more. I am no one to judge though. Overall the movie was really good predictable or not, worth a watch.