Cringe worthy

Rating: 1/10 (16 September 2009)

I went to see this film having heard a lot of good things and with an open mind, choosing it over Inglorious Basterds to see with my partner. I thought it might be a thoughtful alternative to the chick flicks she would prefer to see.
It is safe to say this film did not live up to my expectations. I found a lot of it very contrived and cringe worthy. The voice over was bordering on embarrassing. The attempts at humour were more miss than hit. The characterisation was lacking, particularly in the case of the male lead's friends.
The "alternative take" on boy meets girl, although present through out the film, was only really touched on towards the end and I think a lot more could have been made of it with better plot and editing. The love only becoming "unrequited" in the last 15 minutes and the director struggling to point out to the viewer the signs that we may well have missed.
All in all it was obvious what the film was trying to achieve but the fact that it was so obvious was its greatest failing. It simply tried too hard and failed too often.
Credit where credit is due I enjoyed the Bollywood style scene and thought it was quite well used in the film, although perhaps stretched a little far with the addition of the animated blue bird. A case of too many influences spoil the broth.
In my opinion this film would have been better served going to the same sort of route as Garden State and similar "emotional male" films instead of striving so hard in futility to strike out on its own.