Truly Dreadful Film

Let's be realistic.

An Exercise In Nonsense

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

I can't believe the shockingly low star rating this movie has received. An oddity, this is the most underrated one I've seen on the IMDb site. People have really misjudged this film. Yes, the film is very shoddily filmed, I won't disagree with that, but if you look into the heart and truth of the stories, the film is really thought provoking and has a cutting reality, especially as far as alienation is concerned. The film basically presents characters of hopelessness, despair, no more evident and affecting than in the last story, that really hits home with loneliness, about a lonely office clerk woman, who really got to me, and almost had me reaching for my Kleenex. She's reached that point of suicide, not the only used person, in her office, with the same agenda, in a story that's not only sad, but quite comically clever. The film's stories are told in very clever ways, like the first and second one, especially with Carrell. He and Paris are the standout performers in this show. I watched it for the late Paul Walker, and I have never seen an actor, more wasted in a movie, for what little time he had. What a downer? He should of never even bothered, as he was just there for his good looks. Character wise, he almost had nothing to work with. Josh Harnett's film, of endless dreary, and quiet bad monologue, I must say was quite mesmerizing. Noted, Stories U.S.A does have it's problems, low budget really showing, but if you look into the reality of the stories, there's some quite worthwhile and thought provoking stuff to pick up on. It's boring and paining end credit, run running at a near ten minutes, is almost as long as Star Wars, with really an hour, fifteen minute kill time pic. And I'll be honest, there's a lot other worse ways to kill time, than this, really worth the view, pic.

Let me preface this by saying that I am a great appreciator of short films and short film collections. Any collection of short films presented as a feature presentation is going to run high risk of being uneven, but I'm able to judge it solely on the sum of its parts. And in this case, the sum is woefully meager. Each film is thinly plotted with ludicrous or non-existent conclusions. The distributors clearly scrapped together any short film they could find with a familiar face, and use those names to market the assembled product. They have two other collections that follow this same principle. Its obvious the distributor has no appreciation for the short film form and is just looking to make a quick buck. That in itself is a greater offense than any of these forgettable shorts alone. Anyone seeking a quality short film collection would be better served by any of the recent Oscar-nominated short compilations, or the web site Short of the Week.

Every scene in this film is rank amateur. It looks like a student film by someone who didn't do any studying. Though there is allegedly a plot, no story really plays. Like everyone else suckered into watching this, I was drawn by the cast. One involved a line-less skit about dodge ball, another involved a few barflies, and so on, and so on. Now I wonder how they got conned into appearing in it? If it was for the money, than so much went to the actors, there wasn't any left over for sets or a screenplay. So I can't help but wonder if any were blackmailed into starring in it. Nothing else begins to explain it. Yeah, it's that horrible.

Yes I understand it was a compilation of short stories. What was missing is that something that normally would tie these stories together or at least if they are all unrelated stories make each one stand on it's own merit. Merit is the missing factor here. I guess I made it thru about one half of this 90 minutes before I had to walk out of the theater. This one should have come with a money back guarantee. Interestingly the plot outline here on IMDb reads, "A compilation of short films about desperate lives in America, starring many of the world's top actors." and I wonder if any of these 'Top Actors' bothered to look at this piece of truly unwatchable garbage after receiving what must surely have been overpayment for services rendered. Did anyone working on this bother to read the script? I think my dog could write more lucid and entertaining stories. Please people that worked on this, don't do it again. Life is too short. This movie was about desperate people and it certainly achieved that, it made me desperate to leave the theater. You have been warned.