Gagged and bound by its own intentions

Rating: 3/10 (21 December 2008)

OK- went to see this film with friends tonight and was disappointed. There was far too much "smell the fart" acting replacing dialogue and it became obvious in the end that this was because no one could put sensible words in place of visual expressions. The characters were so shallow in the end this looked like a pilot for a series which should never have been given the green light. You can understand that the lead guy is goodlooking and probably will go on to do some decent stuff but so what? Some people just want to get on screen no matter how bad the movie they are in. Im afraid that this is one of those occasions. The 12A rating should have put me off, and i wish it had. Aside from being Dawson's Creek with Vampires this film was very patchy. It was as if the screenwriter couldn't decide whether visual effects were more important than the script itself. The actors seemed as if they were gagged, or prevented from actual expression and it gave the film a feeling that there should have been more to it all than there was and you got the distinct sense that those in charge of this project weren't sure how to convey the story- in long or short format: so they mixed the two. The story didn't really seem to flow and the lines the characters uttered often totally betrayed them visually and contextually. The female lead seemed like either she wanted to be, or was allowed to continue to act as if she was Juno- handling a vampire dude in school. Just bad direction and bad screenplay. The overall result was that this film was funny when it wanted to be serious, and in the end, all it was, was seriously disappointing. I do hope that they don't bore us all with another one, or if they do- at least that effort is made to actually convey something clear rather than something they don't know how to get across. OR: was i just too old for this film?! Either way, lesson learned= avoid this one if you want to keep 2 hours of your life sane.