WubsTheFadger Short and Simple Review by WubsTheFadgerFirst off, the story would seem extremely mundane but Richard Linklater, much like in the Before series and Waking Life, has created characters and emotion that makes the film tense and real. The story is told fast and the dialogue between the characters is fluid and genuine.the acting is very good. Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman perform great. Robert Sean Leonard does an okay job as a man who just got caught up in the past. Ethan Hawke once again performs stunningly. Much like in Gattaca, the Before Series, and even in The Purge, he brings a sense of realism to the screen.The pacing is fast throughout the entire film and the run time is short.The only downside I see to this film is that the ending is somewhat unresolved. Pros: Genuine dialogue, great characters, interesting story, good acting, amazing performance by Ethan Hawke, fast pacing, and a short run timeCons: Robert Sean Leonard's weak performance and an unresolved endingOverall Rating: 8.3P.S. Richard Linklater is one of my favorite directors. The Before Series are some of my favorite movies along with Waking Like. If you enjoy dialogue driven films you should also watch The Man From Earth.

Red_Identity One would think that this sort of film would get repetitive and dull after a while, but it remains engaging all the way through. And I say that with a lot of passion. It starts off intriguing, but it just gets better and better as it goes along, and the three lead performances are fantastic (maybe Leonard less than Thurman and Hawke). Thurman, especially, gives some really fine work here even with less screen time, possibly her finest film performance outside of Kill Bill. Linklater crafted a mini-masterpiece with this, I absolutely recommend this. Many may not have high expectations, but it's really strong in its structure and writing.

FSfilmblog Three high school friends reconnect one night in a hotel room to remember events that happened 10 years earlier. Summary of the film in one line, though there is more to it than just three characters talking to one another for 90 minutes. Director Richard Linklater has interwoven a complex tale of intrigue and perception. The film opens up with Vince (Ethan Hunt) in his hotel room as he prepares himself for what seems like a wild night out as he chugs on beer, scrunching and throwing cans across the room. When the door knocks, enters the second of the films three characters Jon (Robert Sean Leonard-Dead Poets Society). As they reminisce about the past, things soon turn to a more serious matter of a girl they both knew.The conversation shifts to the girl Amy (played by Uma Thurman), who Vince use to date and Jon had sex with in high school. Vince pursues and pesters Jon on what happened on their eventful night. He wants details on how, why and where. As he goes on and on at Jon (who becomes more and more agitated in his line of questioning), he finally admits to coercing her into having sex with him. Vince being unhappy with his explanation continues in asking him how. With Vince's continual questioning, Jon finally admits to possibly raping her. As this is said, Vince goes to his bag where he reveals a tape recorder where he has been recording their conversation and replays Jon's confession. It becomes all too apparent that Vince has an ulterior motive for meeting up with his old high school buddy.With such a brave approach to having one setting and only three characters who interact with such verve in dialogue that is all too intellectual yet highly believable where one tries to gain a moral high ground on one another. As they argue with one another the camera goes back and forth like an audience watching a tennis match as argument is battered back and forth, it is such an involving way to participate in their personal debate. An experimental technique which works!The confines of the room may restrict the action but it's a film where the characters drive the narrative forward to what is an intriguing debate about perception about an event that happened 10 years ago. Where one person remembers an event in one way another person views it differently. Each actor is given enough to work with where each character is smart and articulate, where one can seem like the protagonist and then become an antagonist in one line of dialogue.The story adapt from a stage play shows its origins in it's one set, dialogue full narrative where it's all down to the actors to pull you in, in it's exchanges between one another as information is feed to us and where not everything is as clear as mud. When you feel one character is gaining the upper hand on the argument it suddenly turns and the other character is in fact the one who is right. It raise a lot questions which not all may be answered but is thoroughly enjoyable thought provoking debatable film.If you liked my review please visit my blog http://fsfilm.blogspot.com/

Boba_Fett1138 In its sort this is simply a good movie. Still not really my cup of tea though, I'll admit.This movie is like a filmed stage-play. It's set at only one location and the entire movie only features 3 characters in it. This of course means that the movie gets entirely driven by its characters and dialog. It's a small and independent movie, that nevertheless still had some big name actors involved with it.Movies like this, that are basically just filmed stage-plays, don't work out much normally. It's not really hard to see why. The movies are slow and they tend to drag with its overlong dialog. Besides there are very little things you can do, movie technically-wise, with a story that is set at only one location. You can tell that the director tried to make the movie more dynamic and lively by putting in some unusual camera-work that however to me only worked out annoying and distracting, as often would be the case with an independent movie that's all too aware of itself.This movie also does really start offs slow and also sort of uninteresting. At first it seems nice how these characters are talking and interacting with each other, which seems realistic at all but it also gets tiresome pretty fast, also since the dialog is basically going nowhere. I don't think I have ever heard the word 'why?' uttered so much in a movie. Nevertheless, once the movie gets over its slow point and the whole point of the movie its story starts to become more obvious, the movie itself becomes a far more interesting and also really better one to watch. The story does not disappoint, even though it of course is all being kept very small and simple. It's simply an effective movie at what it tries to be- and to achieve with it.A good movie within its sort.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/