estebangonzalez10 "Due to some unforeseen circumstances I will not be seeing clients for the time being."I was a huge admirer of Lynn Shelton's film, Your Sister's Sister, and I even included it on my list of the best movies of 2011 so I was eagerly anticipating what she would do next. I loved the way she captured those characters in such an authentic way and I was onboard for her mumblecore experimentation once again. Knowing that Rosemarie DeWitt was going to be back for the lead role was one of the main reasons I included Touchy Feely in my most anticipated movies of the year list. It didn't hurt either that Ellen Page was going to play a supporting role since I was a huge fan of her work in Hard Candy and Juno. Everything about Touchy Feely had my expectations high rocketed to the sky, but then 2012 came and poor word of mouth lowered my expectations to such a degree that I never ended up seeing it until now. It was a major letdown and it made Lynn's previous film, Laggies, seem like a masterpiece next to this. This is a dramedy that feels completely uneven and the plot doesn't seem to go anywhere. I didn't like any of the characters here and their motivations were hard to understand at times. The film was a mess and the pacing was so slow that this 90 minute film felt like it was three hours long. For a film trying to explore the interrelationships between these characters there was nothing to be said or discovered. Even the actors seemed to be lost and not fully understanding what their characters motivations really were. Abby (Rosemarie DeWitt), a successful message therapist, and her boyfriend Jesse (Scoot McNairy) are enjoying a lovely dinner at her brother Paul's (Josh Pais) home. Paul, emotionally distant and a bit depressed, lives with his daughter Jenny (Ellen Page) who has sacrificed her personal dreams to assist her father at his dental practice, which isn't exactly flourishing. Abby on the other hand is sought after for her great hands and seems to be going through a good moment in her life. She recommends his brother visit her Reiki instructor, Bronwyn (Allison Janney), who has done amazing things for her. Things take an unexpected turn in the family dynamics however when Abby suddenly develops a strange aversion towards skin which affects her work life. After Paul helps one of his patients recover from a terrible tooth pain, his dental practice begins to flourish due to the positive word of mouth his "healing hands" are receiving. While his relationship with his daughter seems to be getting stronger, Abbie's new aversion to skin affects her relationship with Jesse.Despite the pretty original premise the film fails to explore Abby's problem. It's just a technique used to shake the interpersonal relationship in the family, but there is nothing that Lynn is trying to explore with her new found aversion. I really didn't understand why her character didn't simply explain to Jesse what she was going through because I'm sure he would've understood. He seemed like a pretty comprehensive type of guy. The introduction of Ron Livingston's character only feels like a filler and doesn't do anything to build the story. Ellen Page delivers a solid performance once again, but her character is trapped inside her emotional wall which doesn't allow her to fully blossom. Pais and DeWitt are the true stars of the film and their performances are the highlight of this forgettable film. Pais especially captures the eccentricities of his character in a rather natural way. I found the New Age mysticism in the film a bit too preachy and the indie quirkiness a bit too familiar. The tone of the film just dragged it down for me and I had a hard time relating to the characters or caring for any of them. http://estebueno10.blogspot.com/

Amari-Sali Between Ellen Page, Allison Janney, and Rosemarie DeWitt, you have a great filmography between the three in which you will likely find the best drama or comedy movies of the past few years; and between DeWitt and Janney, you'll also find some of the best television of the past few years. Leading to the question of how come this film seemed to not really pop up anywhere? Is it simply that Magnolia Pictures wanted to focus on their other projects more, like Blackfish, or simply a general lack of interest? To find out if you should be interested in this movie, look below.Characters & StoryIn this awkward little family, Abby (Rosemarie DeWitt) is a massage therapist, who has an interest in alternative medicine; her brother Paul (Josh Pais), who at first meeting comes off as Abby's father, is a dentist who speaks in monotone and is very plain; and then there is Paul's daughter Jenny (Ellen Page) who simply is a young girl, likely fresh out of high school, who is unsure what to do with her life. Leading to the main story which deals with Abby's sudden phobia of being touched, or touching people, as her brother magically starts getting the healing touch. Something which turns his dying dental practice into the place many believe a miracle worker practices at. And while Abby adjusts to losing her ability to make people feel better, she has to deal with her boyfriend Jesse (Scoot McNairy), who originally was supposed to be a rebound from her ex Adrian (Ron Livingston). Then, as for Paul, as he discovers the power of his touch can help people, he starts to meet more and more with Abby's friend Browyn (Allison Janney) who teaches him Reiki, among other things. Leaving Jenny who pretty much spends most of the movie either working with her dad or wanting her aunt's boyfriend.PraiseWhen it comes to praise, the nicest thing I can say is that the aforementioned actresses, and their co-stars, seem to fit their characters well. DeWitt playing a normal woman put in a weird situation seems in her comfort zone; Page being a teen who is on the cusp of adulthood and unprepared for the burden seems like something she is comfortable with; and then Janney playing an sort of eccentric character who rolls with the punches, once more, seems like something she has done before and is very comfortable in doing again and again.CriticismProblem with that is, with their performances all feeling like a character they have played before, and with them playing these new characters without enthusiasm, it makes for a rather boring watching experience. Something which isn't helped by a story which never really explains why Abby gained her phobia of touching people, much less why Paul suddenly has magic fingers. There is no medium who makes them switch abilities, nor are there any concrete reasons. Then, when it comes to Paul, he is so boring that even as he meets with Browyn and tries to become a more interesting character, it feels more like a last ditch effort more than anything. Plus throughout the film I just felt like there was this big elephant in the room dealing with who in the world was Jenny's mom and where did she go? Since Paul, in the state we meet him, honestly seems more realistic as a 50+ year old divorcée, with two kids, rather than a guy in his 40s who has Abby as his sister and Jenny as his daughter. The story as a whole though does not in any way makeup for these dull characters unfortunately. For between the aforementioned switch, and then the personal drama, you are left wondering what is the point of the film, or the story they are trying to tell? With Abby's relationship with both Jesse and Adrian, there doesn't seem to be any real direction, conflict, much less resolution. Then, when it comes to Jenny, the whole her liking Jesse thing was very weird and it also felt a bit slapped together. Almost like they knew it should have been cut, but they wanted Ellen Page in the movie, so they threw something together so that the role was just big enough for her to justify showing up, learning her lines, and maybe mentioning the movie hopefully.Overall: Skip ItI was meandering between saying this was "TV Viewing" or "Skip It" when I first started watching this, but as the plot continued on, no characters began to draw me into their drama, and the story showed that it was all downhill from the beginning, I honestly wanted to stop watching this movie. And even though I did finish it, I can't honestly imagine this being worth more than background noise for a good Sunday nap. For while I like the female leads of the movie, and think they are brilliant, in each and every one of their filmographies you'll find films like these which seem more made for them to say they were actively working than really part of something you can imagine them openly, and repeatedly, promoting.

Hellmant 'TOUCHY FEELY': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five) Another comedy-drama film about relationships from writer/director Lynn Shelton. Shelton also wrote and directed the 2009' film 'HUMPDAY' and 2011's 'YOUR SISTER'S SISTER' (which was a better movie). One of the stars of 'YOUR SISTER'S SISTER', Rosemarie DeWitt, also stars in this film along with Ellen Page, Josh Pais, Scoot McNairy, Allison Janney, Tomo Nakayama and Ron Livingston. The movie is about a dentist and his daughter struggling to revive their dental business and the dentist's sister, who's a massage therapist, that suddenly loses her ability to touch another human being (out of fear). It's quirky and oddly funny at times but never very touching or as emotionally moving as it would like to be.DeWitt plays Abby, a massage therapist who's boyfriend Jesse (McNairy) just asked her to move in with him. This scares her, as her last relationship was a hard breakup, and she starts having panic attacks that prevent her from doing her job. Her brother Paul (Pais) is a very conservative and anal dentist who lives in their parents' old house with his daughter Jenny (Page). Jenny is Paul's assistant at his dental practice, where business has been extremely slow. One day Jenny invites her friend Henry (Tomo Nakayama) in for a free cleaning and when her father heals his long time tooth pains their reputation picks up and so does their business.The movie is interesting and entertaining enough while you're watching it but once it's over it doesn't really leave you with much to think about. That's good enough for some movies but I think a film like this really wants to accomplish a lot more. The cast is all great (I think DeWitt is gorgeous and I've been a fan of Page ever since 'JUNO') and the characters are likable but I don't think the resolutions to their problems are very satisfactory. It's oddly funny but never hilarious and is frequently on the verge of being emotionally moving but never quite gets there. It all seems just a little too uneventful in the end. Not a bad film but not an especially good one either.Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDElhat3XPM

Jesse Boland It is listed as a comedy, but you won't be laughing. This is a story about a family of frail people who finally as one start to open up to the world around them. Each of them has their own protective layer that they need to break out of, and it is really not funny to watch. It is not a bad story, and it is told by a great cast, and the rural Seattle area looks great in the travel montages. I didn't like it, but you probably will. And Ellen Page is just so tiny, and broken in this her character never seems to really get better, and then she does no reason why. You could say that the healing of her Aunt, and Father was what she needed to heal herself, but you never see her actually healed as a result, just the result itself.