RavenGlamDVDCollector (wanted to give a 6, but the +1 is for Zoe Kazan's darling fringe)The most voted-against review of the current 11 reviews opinionated that the trailer is better than the movie. Right on! Okay, I went into a video shop to check out what's new and saw the box of this one and was instantly smitten. Went home and downloaded trailer and waited for movie to go to bargain bin (how I collect original DVDs when it comes to new titles) and it took a while but finally, I am at the reviewing stage, two years after the cinematic release.The first quadrant of the movie contains most of, shall I call it the trailer material? By the second quadrant you realize this has gone awry. Zoe Kazan is great, the rest really stink. Ron Livingston, go home, go get yourself a day job, studios won't call. Jack Johnson, oh please, only people who can enthuse about him are little ugly old blokes cheering vicariously to see an ugly little old bloke to get the girl. And that Frankie Shaw girl. Lackluster. Bleak send- her- home-tear-up-her-pay-cheque boo-to-the-moo... I'd better stop before I get cruel.The third quadrant and it only gets worse. I should now mention that I was having terrible thoughts about the actor playing the Dad, John Carroll Lynch. What a horrible casting selection, I seethed. But then it happened. ****************SPOILER ALERT************** (kind of watered down)It is all triggered by the word "porcupine" and I had a lump in my throat, oh that bear hug. Made it almost all worth while. Almost...The only thing, besides that golden moment, that this movie has got going for itself, is Zoe Kazan (who, by the way, was 30 THIRTY! years old, playing an early twentysomething, and who looks like a schoolkid to me) Zoe has (a) a darling fringe (I might have mentioned that already) and I just sigh "Carly Rae Jeppsen" and go d-uhh! (b) soulful big blue eyes that are truly, truly soulful, I mean go to a picture dictionary and look up "soulful big blue eyes" and there you have a pic of Zoe Kazan's eyes (c) nice legs too and (d) she is cute to the point where she is the epitome of cute, like huggable to death, so here's a big hearty "Boo!" to the reviewer who suggested she has a limited range of emotions, I wanted to vote against you too, you buffoon, but you did get one thing right... The trailer is better than the movie.The first quadrant is true to the trailer and shows the premise of what could have been great. Zoe did a marvelous job as the two vastly different twin sisters. If I didn't know better, I'd have thought those were two actresses.Nobody ever mourns Audrey. Or way too little. Laurel went to the funeral as if it was her own funeral. So, her sister, we the audience find out she had a fling with a married man, she is supposed to be not worth mourning over? I beg to differ, she showed compassion for Laurel and longed to help, and knew her own life was in disarray. She was a positive character. Basel was glaringly obviously a big big big bore (looks half-asleep the whole time) and the movie couple would have been doomed by the first reel of the sequel!It really should stay in your mind as "I saw the trailer, wanted to see that..."

padres01 I enjoyed "The Pretty One." Zoe Kazan is luminous and sweet as her own twin sister -- one frumpy and the other glamorous -- and she delivers a career-building performance in this film. For me, Jake Johnson was a revelation. I was unfamiliar with him and his work, and this film gave me the opportunity to enjoy his quirky leading man style. The two have great chemistry and worked the hell out of the roles they assumed. The film is a great transgenerational rom-com that allows older audiences to enjoy rising stars without crashing into a generation gap. The film pokes fun at itself and, as with just about any movie, you have to be willing to suspend belief and let the players take you on a journey.

Argemaluco The Pretty One is a pleasant indie "dramedy" cooked with the habitual ingredients from the genre: a simple screenplay, but not lacking of some deepness; funny characters who are too picturesque to exist in the real world; and a narrative sensibility which cunningly occupies the intersection between art-house cinema and the commercial one. That description might sound a bit cynical, but it doesn't darken my appreciation for the various pros of The Pretty One, which I liked pretty much despite some forced details from the screenplay and its kinda cloying manufacture. To start with, the performances from Zoe Kazan and Jake Johnson are very good. I always like those actors' work, even though they tend to play the same character over and over again (Kazan, adorable "Phoebe", and Johnson, adorable loser). But, as long as they keep bringing such good works in those roles, I will keep enjoying their performances. Kazan and Johnson have a perfect chemistry with each other, something which helps to cover some weak details from the screenplay. For example, the premise feels occasionally improbable, even though it's raised with enough logic in order to accept it for the sake of entertainment. After all, The Pretty One doesn't aspire to the raw realism from Hesher or Smashed (to put a pair of indie examples), but it occupies the idealized universe from films such as In Your Eyes and Juno, where the characters are sublimations of narrative archetypes, and the dialogs are impossibly eloquent and colorful. But the artifice works because the emotions feel real, and because of that, The Pretty One survives some not very credible coincidences, forced revelations and moments of a doubtful humor. Besides, in order to season the recipe a little bit, screenwriter Jeneé LaMarque (who was also the director) makes sporadic explorations to the meaning of identity, and its narrow (and sometimes contradictory) relationship with our public perception. Is it more important to know who we are, or who the people think we are? That's an interesting concept which brings a slight philosophical basis to the film. In conclusion, I recommend The Pretty One with confidence, because despite not being something great, it kept me very entertained, it made me think a bit and, for the first time in a long while, I was genuinely interested in the romantic aspect.

Larry Silverstein Once I accepted the premise of this movie, which in itself is not easy to do, it grew on me and overall I came to like it. In my opinion, this is the type of movie that if one just goes with the flow, and doesn't try to look too closely beneath the plot surface, it can be enjoyable.Zoe Kazan does a fine job here, starring in a dual role of the identical twin sisters Laurel and Audrey. They're polar opposites in personality, with Laurel being introverted and self-doubting, while Audrey is outgoing and vivacious. Laurel is still living at home with her father Frank (John Carroll Lynch) with whom she has a co-dependent relationship, while Audrey has a successful career going in real estate and owns a duplex in town.However, one day while driving together they get distracted, and end up in a terrible head-on collision, where Laurel is seriously injured and Audrey is killed. Due to the fact that Laurel is wearing an ID bracelet imprinted with Audrey's name on it (which Audrey had just given to Laurel on their birthday to be a constant reminder of her), the doctors and even Frank think that Audrey survived the crash and that Laurel was the one killed. When Laurel is diagnosed with post-traumatic amnesia a lot of any inconsistencies can be explained away.Since Laurel thinks her life compared to her sister's was miserable, Laurel decides to maintain the charade, eventually moves into the duplex and even Audrey's job. At the duplex, she meets her tenant Basel, very effectively portrayed by the underrated actor Jake M. Johnson, whose performance in "Drinking Buddies" I liked quite a lot.Basel is quite the nice guy, selling used books over the internet and loaning others to neighborhood kids. You can see the attraction building between Basel and Laurel, and I thought the chemistry between the two worked exceptionally well.However, as circumstances will eventually warrant, Laurel may have to disclose who she really is, causing all kinds of reactions and chaos.Overall, I thought this film ably written and directed by Jenee Lamarque, can lose its' way at times, but can also be poignant and humorous as well, and as mentioned if one is willing to just accept the premise there are rewards here, in my opinion.