Sadly Over-hyped

Don't Believe the Hype

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

I was really surprised by this movie. The summary of the movie itself doesn't reveal a whole lot about the plot, and I'd never seen any trailers for it. I just happened to stumble across it in movies Netflix thought I would like.Thanks, Netflix.From the very beginning of the story, I was hooked. I love Ian McKellen, and of course he delivered a flawless and brilliantly heartbreaking performance as Gabriel. Aaron Eckhart did a fine job of convincing me that, though he'd long since grown from Zach Small, that little boy was still in there, still vulnerable and still seeking answers to things that he didn't understand. Brittany Murphy was a surprisingly pleasant addition to the cast as Maggie, and though her screen time was limited, I thought Jessica Lange perfect for the role of Zach's haunted mother.What I liked about this film is how it tackled the issue of mental illness. It let us into a little secret: sometimes, the best place for a mental patient is NOT in a mental hospital. Of course, there is a fine line with that notion there, but for Gabriel, the only place he was really able to thrive, was the only home he had ever known... Neverwas. And for the ending to put Gabriel exactly where he belonged was touching beyond measure.As usual, Alan Cumming was phenomenal in his role, small though it may have been. I would have liked to see more of Vera Farmiga in her role, but as these both were side characters, it's understandable that they would have limited screen time.Overall, I thought the film was excellent, with the right elements of several things that make a good film - depth of emotion, suspense and mystery, a little adventure, conflict that needs to be resolved. I'll definitely be watching this one again.

In some ways this film is reminiscent of films such as "The Fisher King" and "They Might be Giants". In both of those films the central idea was that the mad have a separate reality. In this story, the main character, Zachary, is a psychiatrist attempting to understand the nature of his father's madness. He takes a position at a mental institution where his father had been hospitalized. There he meets and becomes friends with an old man, Gabriel, who knew his father while they were both inmates. He comes to realize that the old man's delusion was the basis for his father's inspiration as a children's fantasy writer. After his father is "cured" through the use of psychotropic drugs of his manic-depression, he loses his will to write. His son had been an integral part of the writing process and when that part of his father's life is over, he feels betrayed. Their relationship is destroyed and the boy, now the psychiatrist, is seeking to come to grips with his unresolved pain. Gabriel is convinced that Zachary has come to rescue him from his enemies and draws him back into the fantasy world. The climax comes when Zachary must either choose between the realities or try to integrate them. The ending is logical and works, but it's too easy. Zachary takes his stand and the world accommodates itself, no problem. The ending should have been edgier. They should have had to work at it more. It is unsatisfying but everything that has gone before is is quite good. There is some high-powered talent at work here among the supporting character actors and they alone make it worthwhile.

Just finished watching this and have to say that while we usually find IMDb to be spot on in regards to movie details, this one has a mistake on it. The character played by Brittany Murphy is not named Ally, but Maggie. At least thats the way it is in the Australian movie.About the movie itself - I personally found it a bit slow and hard to stay involved in it. I was able to get up and leave the room several times and upon returning found that not only did I not need to go back to see what I missed, but that I was totally indifferent to what I missed.It definitely didn't hold the kids interest either.

NEVERWAS, a little miracle of a movie written and directed by Joshua Michael Stern, is an allegory, a fairytale, a dissection of the impact of mental illness on parents and children, and story of compassion, believing, and blossoming of character that was created with a sterling ensemble of actors in 2005, failed to find a niche in theatrical distribution, and went straight to DVD - becoming one of those limited release films that is very elusive even in the megavideo stores. The reasons for this relative anonymity are not clear, but film lovers will do well searching out this little gem: the rewards are immediate gratification and long lasting satisfaction.Narrated by Ian McKellan who plays a major role in the film, the story concerns the return of psychiatrist Zachary Riley/Small (Aaron Eckhart) to an obsolete mental institution named Millhouse, the hospital where his author father T.L. Pierson (Nick Nolte) ended his days in suicide, having suffered from bipolar syndrome. Zach wants to discover secrets about his father, why his father's book 'Neverwas' has been so disturbing to Zach, and to offer good medical treatment to those patients living in the obscure hospital run by the kindly but enigmatic Dr. Reed (William Hurt). Zach is buoyant, greets his new job with joy, and works with various patients in group and individual therapy (the group includes well developed characters portrayed by Alan Cumming, Vera Farmiga, and Michael Moriarty, among others) and encounters the apparently mute Gabriel Finch (Ian McKellan), a delusional man who believes Zach has returned to break the curse preventing his return to his imaginary kingdom of Neverwas.Zach meets a 'grad student botantist'/reporter Ally (Brittany Murphy) who loves Zach's father's book and urges Zach to read the fairytale as a means to assuage Zach's new nightly nightmares and insomnia dealing with images of himself as a child, his father's suicide, and other strange forces. Ally's commitment to Zach's father's book, Zach's breakthrough to Gabriel Finch, together with Zach's re-evaluation of his agoraphobic mother (Jessica Lange) all intertwine to reestablish Zach's discovery of his relationship to a father whose mental illness prevented the close relationship Zach so desperately missed. In a tumbling set of events that incorporate the fairytale of the book Neverwas with the reality of Zach's father's relationship to Gabriel Finch brings the story to a heartwarming, well considered, touching conclusion. Being 'unordinary' is a goal, not a curse.In addition to the above-mentioned stellar cast, small parts are also created by Bill Bellamy, Ken Roberts, Cynthia Stevenson among others. The cinematography by Michael Grady manages to keep the audience balanced between real and fantasy and the musical score by renowned composer Philip Glass fits the story like a glove. Ian McKellan gives a multifaceted performance of a man whose delusional life is far more real than his life as a mental patient, Aaron Eckhart finesses the transformation of the lost child seeking his roots with great skill, Nick Nolte gives one of his finer interpretations as the disturbed father/author, and Brittany Murphy manages to maintain a much needed lightness to the atmosphere of the mental institution story setting. The impact of the film, while absorbing from the first images, is the ending, a reinforcement of the importance of love and nurturing that too often is relegated to little books for children instead of the manner in which we live our lives. This is a fine film well worth ferreting out from the obscurity to which it so unjustly has been assigned. Grady Harp