I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

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.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Although, this documentary movie directed by Cullen Hoback isn't as complex and as good as his other film, 2013's Terms and Conditions May Apply; it still shows how much hard work for the participants & collaborators enthusiasts to developed a complicated world to bring their ideas fantasies to life. Also, while I'm not the biggest fantasy fan, I do find the concept of live-action-role-playing games or LARPING, somewhat interesting. It looks worthy to partake. Indeed, it's looks like it's time to slay some normalcy! Without spoiling the movie, too much, I have to say, that one of the appeals of this film to me, is how the Seattle, Washington chapter of NERO Alliance (New England Role Player Alliance), now known as Alliance LARP, allows their players to create their own identities selecting from a variety of races and classes, similar to other role-playing fantasy games, like Dungeons and Dragons. Participants dress up and are involved as either player characters, non-player character, or plot members. It's here, that they gather themselves up for events such as Monster Camp to play out their fantasies for the sake of escapism. It's nice to hear, how real friendship and relationships can be forged between the participants; but it's also sad to hear, that some people take it, way too serious to the point, that they have literally no personal life or destroying what's left of it. I think, the most disturbing part of the film, is when one of the participants is ignoring and abandoning his child to make these type of games, his obsession. That's horrible! Watching it, remind me of 2006's other LARP documentary, Darkon. However, the movie never goes way too dark or political like Darkon; instead, showing more of the good side of Live-Action-Role-Playing. Yes, there were lots of scenes of people going through intense stress, due to complex rules and time, guidelines; but the majority of what shown, looks fun for the most part. Still, a part of me, would had, love to see one of them, have a serious mental breakdown, because how much, time it takes, and how it doesn't allow for much sleep or satisfaction. Indeed, it really looks like a thankless job. I would love, to see the film tackle some serious issues such as Fantasy prone personality disorder or maladaptive daydreaming, through some of these people. Regardless, it wasn't a big deal, because the simpleton nature of the film, even if it's a bit dull at times was alright with me. At least, they didn't presented it, in a way that looks like, they were mocking or ridicule, these people are, what they were doing. There was no bias opinion from the filmmakers. They show the good side and the bad side of people. Honestly, some of these people, they shown, seem very normal people to me. However, there were some things, I thought, the movie could had done better, like focusing more on the people that been doing it for years, rather than ones that been doing it for a year or two. The movie really wasted time, interviewing certain people that had little to do, with Seattle Chapter of Alliance LARP success. Even those older gamers, who they spotlight. They really didn't spent, too much time on them. It sucks that film doesn't show any previous years of Monster Camp, through archive footage or photos. It's a bit jarring for the audience, to have people such as Shane Macomber, talks about one year having a cool Dragon costume for Monster Camp, and not being able to show it on the film. Clearly, it would had been nice to see, what it once looks like. Another thing, since the game had very complex rules and fantasy elements; why didn't the filmmakers add, some subtitles or a narration on certain scenes. I was really confused, on what's going on, in certain areas of the film. Nonetheless, the worst thing about this film is how much the film serve as an advertisement for the World of Warcraft game! Gees, the film makes it, seem like anybody interested in fantasy should, buy that game. I thought, this movie was, about LARP, not W.O.W, Hoback!!! The movie somewhat lose focus, there, when they started to interview people on how much World of Warcraft, they played. Some of them, were really disturbing, like the guy who plays 40 hours, a week. WOW, get off of W.O.W, (World of Warcraft) dude! Still, the movie is funny and engaging enough, to watch, pass through those certain scenes. With a run-time of under 90 minutes, the movie was well-paced. Overall: This insight look at an emerging subculture of those immersed in fantasy was well-worth watching. In my opinion, anybody interested in Society for Creative Anachronism, Renaissance Fairs, or Massive Multiplayer Online RPG games, should check this movie out. Indeed, Be All That You Can't Be!

Piece of crap. Waste of time. Go do something with your life instead of watching this. I will never get back the hour and a half I wasted on this. Stupidest documentary. Why? I love the real world. If these people took the real world this seriously we'd be better off. Don't watch. These people are a waste of space on earth. This should make you angry because these people are ridiculous. Our society is teaching that this should be normal. Really?? I don't want to live in a world that says this is OK. Go hike, or walk, or swim outside. Take in the real world because this is not the real world. This is not OK and this should never be OK. And from experience, don't let your friends talk you into watching this piece of crap.

Another home run for the crew that brought you Freedom State.This movie is edited beautifully to take you on a constant ride where you question what is "acceptable" behavior for adults and what is not. I would say that the average person comes into this movie with an initial impression of "they spend their time doing what?" However, the film is crafted to make you question why there must be a solid line between reality in fiction and if NERO, while strange, is really something that adults "shouldn't do because it isn't 'healthy'." The film stays true to it's documentary form.I watched this film with a NERO player "outlier" in the sense that he has what most players do not ( a steady job, lots of education, is married with a daughter, and yet was still very involved in the game )I think his words speak louder than mine when he said that this film actively portrays the entire gamut of most NERO players, regardless of location. The film makes you reconsider the Toys-R-US catch phrase, "I don't want to grow up" and eventually made me come to the conclusion that maybe a good balance of reality and fantasy is not only healthy, but can be quite fun too.

Last nite at San Jose Cinequest. A very interesting film about folks in Live Action RolePlaying and how the hobby has defined or even taken over their life. The film covers the romantic angle too, with couples both meeting and breaking up over "in game" issues. Altho the film is about "L.A.R.P." is could well be about SCA, Renfaire, D&D or even Massive Multiplayer Online games. It touches a bit on that last, with a couple of the guys in the film admitting they spend over 40 hours a week playing WOW. Of course a film about slackers playing computer games would be a tad boring.What I particularly like is the balance shown by the film-makers. They show the good and the bad, with no apparent bias. Intelligent and thought-provoking, with a number of very funny moments and a few poignant ones too.