6 out of 10
Stupid title belies a otherwise interesting experiment. There are shades of MY DINNER WITH ANDRE here except it's not two men getting together for dinner and conversation it's a man and women on a date. The whole film takes place in the women's apartment and simply follows their date and course of conversation.
It scores a bullseye when it comes to modern day dating and all the elements that come with it. Anyone who has done a lot of dating or is heavily into the dating scene will most assuredly relate. These are indeed two very real people. Sillas is a women typical to the dating scene. She is rather plain looking with a boring job and rather dreary overall existence. She looks for a relationship as a way to escape the blandness. Her nervous laughter and gestures are completely on target. Noonan, as her male counterpart, is indeed the culmination of a typical male lost in the dating jungle. He is balding and gawky. He is smart and amiable, but still limited in his interactions.
There ninety minute dialogue is both painful and funny. It is clear that these two people, like in a lot of first dates, are in two very different worlds. They never really talk or connect. They try to force something to work that really can't simply to avoid their own loneliness.
The concept is terrific, but the overall visual style is not. The color is too washed out and the effect is too grayish and bland. The pacing is all right, but there is a odd segment involving the reading of a childrens story that the Sillas character had written. The story is very ghoulish in nature and seems like something that would not have been written by that type of character. The reading of the story goes on too long and there are some subtly strange supernatural elements that happen during it that doesn't make any sense and certainly doesn't fit with the rest of the picture.
Overall though it is a nice try. It can be both entertaining and amusing in it's observations. Yet it's approach is bit too honest and oppressive. It may hit too close too home for some reminding them too much of their own bad dates and their own situation. Viewing this could ultimately become just one big depressing experience.
Stupid title belies a otherwise interesting experiment. There are shades of MY DINNER WITH ANDRE here except it's not two men getting together for dinner and conversation it's a man and women on a date. The whole film takes place in the women's apartment and simply follows their date and course of conversation.
It scores a bullseye when it comes to modern day dating and all the elements that come with it. Anyone who has done a lot of dating or is heavily into the dating scene will most assuredly relate. These are indeed two very real people. Sillas is a women typical to the dating scene. She is rather plain looking with a boring job and rather dreary overall existence. She looks for a relationship as a way to escape the blandness. Her nervous laughter and gestures are completely on target. Noonan, as her male counterpart, is indeed the culmination of a typical male lost in the dating jungle. He is balding and gawky. He is smart and amiable, but still limited in his interactions.
There ninety minute dialogue is both painful and funny. It is clear that these two people, like in a lot of first dates, are in two very different worlds. They never really talk or connect. They try to force something to work that really can't simply to avoid their own loneliness.
The concept is terrific, but the overall visual style is not. The color is too washed out and the effect is too grayish and bland. The pacing is all right, but there is a odd segment involving the reading of a childrens story that the Sillas character had written. The story is very ghoulish in nature and seems like something that would not have been written by that type of character. The reading of the story goes on too long and there are some subtly strange supernatural elements that happen during it that doesn't make any sense and certainly doesn't fit with the rest of the picture.
Overall though it is a nice try. It can be both entertaining and amusing in it's observations. Yet it's approach is bit too honest and oppressive. It may hit too close too home for some reminding them too much of their own bad dates and their own situation. Viewing this could ultimately become just one big depressing experience.