Puccini for Beginners
Puccini for Beginners
| 02 September 2006 (USA)
Puccini for Beginners Trailers

When her inability to commit leads to a breakup with her girlfriend, opera-loving writer Allegra winds up in the bed of amiable professor Philip. He is so smitten with Allegra that he dumps his lover, Grace, and convinces Allegra to continue their affair. When Allegra meets Grace, sparks fly, and she begins a parallel romance, unaware that her new lover is the woman Philip left to be with her.

Reviews
Numerootno

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

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KnotStronger

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

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Hadrina

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

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Kaelan Mccaffrey

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

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fedor8

"She voted Republican, you should have known." Only in American movies does voting Right automatically equate to being a Nazi supporter or being a serial-killer. (Good luck to you if you've already been brainwashed by Hollywood flicks into adopting this mind-set.) There are many other examples of liberal indoctrination; it is persistent and all-present in PFB. Nearly every character behaves like a pre-election politician trying to rake in votes among his liberal electorate, by injecting as many asinine politically-correct statements into the vapid dialogue as they can; so much so in fact that half-way through this painfully unfunny turkey I was musing on whether the film's incompetent writer/director had the primary goal of entertaining people i.e. making them laugh (remember: a comedy, so that's her job), or whether this terribly lame script was merely an excuse for her to voice her painfully predictable and utterly mindless left-wing views. Either way, she is a buffoon with zero talent. After all, isn't this the same Maria who molested us with "The Incredibly Lame Adventure of Two Girls in Love"? PFB is bizarre pile of rom-com (all rom and no com) horse-manure about an unbearably unattractive/unappealing lesbian who is at the center of a love square, meaning that she has affairs with three people, almost all at once. In the absurd "reality" of this stupid movie, this ugly woman is desired and lusted over by every man and woman she meets – while Mol Gretchen (the ACTUAL beauty here) is the one getting cheated on and dumped by both men and women. Yes, I'd laugh at this cretinous role-reversal – if only it were intentional. It isn't.Elizabeth Reaser is such a mediocre and uncharismatic actress and – as I will mention at least ten times more – bearing such a horrendous face, that my nepotism radars immediately switched on. I had a quick look at her bio – and sure enough: her stepfather was nothing less than owner of the Detroit Pistons, a post that her mother took over later on. That explains quite a bit, doesn't it? Further proof that in Hollywood you can only make it if you have relatives in the industry, if you belong to a certain ethnic group, or if you have an upper-class background. (And if you fall into all three categories, a movie-career becomes virtually a certainty – should you want one.) This is quite ironic – and highly hypocritical – considering this movie's pro-Socialist pro-working-class message of equality, huh? Let me get this straight: the movie promotes anti-capitalism while seeking to make as much profit in a very competitive movie market? Furthermore: the movie portrays Republicans as greedy elitists – while the movie's writer/director hires some rich preppie daughter from a powerful and wealthy American family to play a left-wing lesbian? Perhaps one needs to be daft in the extreme in order to "understand" liberal ideology and the self-contradicting means by which they attempt to impose their views on the rest of us who lack this extreme daftness.But hip social issues aren't Maria's only pointless obsession. The script is also burdened, saddled, and ultimately crushed by Maria's laughable desire to be taken seriously as an intellectual; that much is obvious. Instead of focusing on making the movie FUNNY (something she's clearly incapable of anyway), this fool tries to impress us with pseudo-intellectual piffle, while making boring left-wing insinuations every 5 minutes – as if Manbearpig itself had hired her for the job. The script fails in every department, however. The characters aren't believable; they are politically-correct cardboard cut-outs, walking indie-film clichés. They aren't even remotely funny; not even slightly amusing, and very rarely interesting. The dialog sounds fake and forced, not much better than what one gets in a typical episode of "Friends". Credibility is stretched to breaking point as the entire script relies heavily on absurd coincidences – while Maria desperately tries to justify these too-numerous-to-mention chance meetings with some pretentious, unconvincing gobbledygook about why Freud thought there was "no such thing as coincidence". Besides, who gives a rat's bum what Freud thought about anything not related to psychoanalysis? It's like quoting what Plato thought was the best way to cook spaghetti. Or what Agassi thinks about French poetry.And nice try, attempting to portray New York's left-wing lesbian "elite" as smart and well-educated. New York City is a place of high imbecility, not at all anymore the city in which "if you can make it here you can make it anywhere". Make what? Bad movies?

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meganweinand

I say this is not a true lesbian movie-why? Because I as a lesbian I don't think having a lesbian-male relationship is good enough! In addition, the relationship is non-monogamous! If you enjoy watching a movie about a woman who cheats on her lovers (both male and female) while simultaneously claiming to be a lesbian, this is for you! (NOTE the SARCASM). Sure, the movie is funny, but its not really when you realize it's just playing with people's lives. :( On top of that they lie to each other and the comedy does not balance that out! Overall cheeky but not a good movie and not worth it. The chemistry is okay but it's not great. Not recommended for lesbians either-its mainly female-male sex and relationships.

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plex

Don't get the point of this film or if it even makes any point. It just sort of plods around without any foundation or pace. None of the characters are likable, they're all dishonest with themselves and each other, and selfish. You get the idea they will end up alone and you don't care. Poorly acted with very limited emotional reactions covered by a veneer of self- importance, self-cool, self- righteousness, and displaced awe we are supposed to feel because they are bisexual(maybe) AND New Yorkers, AND educated. The film is all too self aware of itself and the writer/director self-gratifies with small genitalia. I watched this film because I have seen most of the players in other things I liked, ironically they were better scripted and directed in TV shows. The film's climax is that it has no climax, you see it coming a mile away and has all the energy and appeal of a televised senior golf tournament. Its billed as a comedy and a romance but neither of those genres were evident to me. How and why sushi chefs would know or care about the intimate details of customers they have no apparent connection with is a complete mystery to me. How & why the character are always bumping into each other, or espying the other in NYC was lamely explained using some old Freud comment about peripheral awareness. Watch only if you like selected players and you are amused by the cliché'd script penned by a lesbian who completely negates men and understands even less about the man-woman dynamic.

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alanalantt

Nice NYC comic romp with a fatal flaw: central character just isn't likable. She's cheating, she's lying, she's whining, she only talks about herself -- so why is everyone falling all over her, aside from sex...Ms. Mol was a true bright spot in this film. Central character needed some of her charm and warmth -- both in writing and delivery.This was Closing Night film of a very successful 11th Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival with director and star Justin Kirk in attendance. It received a very warm reception.Filmed in 18 days 9/05 and doesn't look nearly as low budget as it was.

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