In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.

[Q]: you know something , christmas is not about presents .
it 's about over - hyped holiday films with lots of merchandising and product tie - ins . at least that would seem to be the message of " the grinch , " which has been advertised since last christmas and whose logo is currently plastered all over stores .
hollywood expects us to ignore this cynical greed as the movie scolds us about losing the true spirit of the season .
you know the plot : there 's this evil furry green guy called the grinch ( jim carrey ) who lives on a mountain overlooking whoville .
down below all the who s are preparing for their whobilation , but the grinch is determined to steal their christmas .
the movie is , of course , a live - action version of the beloved children 's book , which was previously adapted into a 1966 tv special by looney tunes animator chuck jones .
it 's rare that a big budget hollywood release is shamed by a thirty - year - old half - hour cartoon , but that 's the case when jones ' version is compared to ron howard 's .
the tv grinch hit all the right notes : boris karloff 's soft , deep narration ; thurl ravenscroft singing " mr . grinch " ; max the dog weighed down by the gigantic antler tied to his head ; and the grinch 's wide
, toothless grin .
by contrast , the movie hits one sour note after another .
first
, there are the numerous bad choices that jeffrey price and peter seaman made in padding out the short book into a 105-minute movie .
young wide - eyed cindy lou who ( taylor momsen ) is depressed about the misplaced priorities of her parents ( bill irwin and molly shannon ) during the holiday season .
she begins to sympathize with the grinch , who turns out to be surprisingly sympathetic .
cindy lou discovers that the grinch turned tearfully away from whoville in grammar school when he was publicly humiliated while expressing his love for the prettiest girl in the class , martha may whovier ( played as an adult by christine baranski ) .
are we expected to like the grinch , hate the who s , and want him to steal christmas ?
the grinch is n't even the villain here ; that role is filled by the corrupt mayor of whoville ( jeffrey tambor ) who was the grinch 's rival for martha 's affection .
not only are the characters needlessly complex ,
but the once - simple plot becomes so convoluted that the actual theft of christmas seems like an afterthought .
the casting choices are n't any better than the screenwriting decisions .
jim carrey seems woefully miscast .
while his face is so supple that the rubber make - up seems superfluous , carrey brings nothing else to the role .
his accent keeps changing ; i assume he was shooting for karloff ,
but he ends up sounding like a weird slurry of richard nixon , sean connery , and cartman from " south park .
" not knowing what else to do during his many scenes alone in the grinch 's home , carrey falls back on his stand - up comedy and clowns around ace ventura - style .
needless to say , his wise - cracking antics do n't quite fit the character of the grinch , who is an embittered loner filled with hate .
little taylor momsen brings little to role of cindy lou except big eyes and a cute smile .
she would have been fine if cindy lou was limited to her original purpose in the seuss story ( finding " santa " in her living room stealing the tree ) .
however , the expanded script makes cindy as important as the grinch , and momsen is not up to the challenge .
bottom line : when you 're stealing christmas ( movies ) , leave this one behind .
[A]: N


[Q]: tone alone can not sustain a film , but it can go a long way .
if i can find myself lost in the time and place of a story , it scores immediate style points .
when that tone is backed up by an outstanding story and great acting , the effect can be described best by an adjective i do not use lightly : " literary .
"
what 's eating gilbert grape ? is such a film .
it 's a rich , memorable and stunningly acted story of desire colliding with responsibility , staged in a manner which many viewers might find too prosaic , but which insinuated itself into my imagination with its confidence .
gilbert grape ( johnny depp ) is a young man living in rural endora , iowa , facing incredible responsibilities .
as the man of the house since his father 's suicide , gilbert must support the family by working at the local grocery store .
he also must watch over his mentally handicapped brother arnie ( leonardo dicaprio ) and help care for his extremely overweight mother ( darlene cates ) .
gilbert seems destined to spend the rest of his life in the small town until the arrival in endora of becky ( juliette lewis ) , a free spirit passing through with her grandmother when their truck breaks down .
as he spends time with becky , gilbert begins to think about all the things he is missing .
slowly his resentment builds , until he realizes that he can no longer live his entire life for other people .
director lasse hallstrom ( my life as a dog ) and
legendary cinematographer sven nykvist create a magnificent visual backdrop for peter hedges ' screenplay , based on his own novel .
endora is a town on the edge of the world represented by the giant foodmart , a tiny insular community where everyone knows everyone else .
the midwestern sunsets and sprawling fields are beautifully photographed , and the atmosphere of the town is intensely real .
minor characters , like crispin glover as the town 's mortician , are vividly realized , and there are echoes of the last picture show in mary steenburgen 's desperately unhappy housewife .
one of the most perfectly realized scenes focuses on the grand opening of a burger franchise , attended by the entire town and accompanied by the off - key high school band .
not a single note in the depiction of endora rang false .
the same can be said of the character of gilbert .
it 's testimony to the precision involved in his creation that he came together completely with one perfectly placed line , when becky responds to gilbert 's description of his father with , " i knew someone like that once .
"
gilbert is a man harboring an ever - growing bitterness about where he finds himself in life , a bitterness which reveals itself in moments of surprising cruelty .
in one scene , he allows local children to look at his mother through their window , displaying her like a side show attraction .
his entire life seems to be mocked by arnie 's repeated chants of , " we 're not going anywhere , " but instead of expressing his dissatisfaction he lets his anger simmer , and it becomes clear that he is following in his father 's footsteps in this regard .
johnny depp expertly demonstrates the tension central to gilbert by playing everything below the surface , but he never gives in to one - dimensional blankness or simply regurgitates his naif roles in benny & joon and edward scissorhands .
depp 's performance is overshadowed , however , by leonardo dicaprio 's astonishing oscar - nominated supporting work as arnie .
he puts to shame such big name actors as john malkovich and dustin hoffman , whose mentally challenged characters never seemed completely real .
dicaprio is perfect to the last twitch and squeal , and anyone who has ever spent time with mentally challenged kids will be hard - pressed to spot a flaw .
darlene cates , a first - time actor , brings real pain to her scenes as gilbert 's tortured mother , and laura harrington and mary kate schellhardt are solid as gilbert 's sisters .
only juliette lewis does n't quite click , playing a critical role with her now familiar dopey drone and too little genuine spark .
gilbert grape does seem to drift into its conclusion , but it never lost me .
thanks to a lovingly created setting and a marvelous cast , this 1993 release proves well worth the wait .
[A]: P


[Q]: first troy beyer wrote the critically panned " b . a . p . s .
"
now she makes her directorial debut , writing , directing , and starring
in this sub - par film
about women talking about sex .
though not without redeeming qualities , this film is bad .
the basic story follows three single friends -- jazz ( beyer ) , lena ( randi ingerman ) , and michelle ( paget brewster ) -- in their search for love .
jazz has an idea for a local talk show ; it would feature women talking about sex and dating .
she and her friends make a demo tape of interviews with the women of miami .
the film itself is sprinkled with these real interviews throughout , both as part of the plot and as commentary on the situations of the main characters .
the fact that they are real provides a refreshing break from some of the more melodramatic moments in the film .
there are several moments of bad acting , corny dialogue , and emotional overextension .
in a low - budget independent film from a first - time director , these faults can sometimes be forgiven , if the screenplay is fresh and solid .
that is not the case here .
the script suffers from random plot developments .
there are four or five of these turns in the plot , each one raising the question " where did that come from ?
" at one point , a character has a lifelong reconciliation with her mother .
we are supposed to be moved , but since the scene is completely un - led - up to , we really do n't care if she and her mother get along .
we 've never seen her mother before .
we never see her again .
who cares ?
what 's worse , these sudden developments are supposed to engage our sympathy .
at another point , a character announces that she ca n't have children .
apparently , this is devastating .
we would n't know this because she never talked about having kids before , but we are nevertheless expected to be devastated for her .
the scene feels like an afterthought , its emotion manipulative and shallow .
these scenes grow worse and worse , culminating in an absurd climax .
two scenes were played with such overwhelming melodrama that i found myself laughing .
one scene is a lover 's spat between two minor characters .
the other has the main characters expressing their copious grief by cleaning house in wails of despair and clouds of ajax .
thinking on these scenes , it is hard for me to admit that the film has redeeming qualities .
but it does .
first , it is original .
we men often wonder what women talk about when they are alone in groups , and i imagine this film gives me a pretty good idea .
it 's something i do n't think has been the subject of a film .
second , the interviews of the miami women are sincere .
taken together , they form a mosaic picture of miami beachwalkers and bistro diners .
the mosaic is made of sound bites and stereotypes , but each tile is some woman 's real experience .
neither the picture of women , nor their picture of men , is truly representative , but the point is that both sets of generalizations are telling in their own way .
at some level , the stereotypes that emerge can be called true .
i can imagine some people liking this film when its characters talk about their " likes , dislikes , skills , and thrills , " but on the whole , it 's pretty bad .
and that makes it even harder to forgive the bad acting , corny dialogue , and emotional overextension .
i 'll give beyer one more strike , and then she 's out .
rated r ( almost got an nc-17 ) for explicit sexual dialogue and nudity .
[A]:
N