Real Life: The Movie

Real Life: The Movie is a 2009 American action film directed by John Singleton and written by Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, based on the Real Life video game franchise, specifically Real Life 3 (2001) and Real Life 4: Evolution (2007). This is the first film in the film series from New Line Cinema and the second part of the Real Life film series as a whole. The main character of the film, a schoolboy named Michael, lives an ordinary life among problems with his family, studies and friends. But every night he is visited by amazing and incredible dreams that seem real to him.
A second Real Life film was planned even after the box office failure of Uwe Boll's film. The rights to the film series were purchased by New Line on May 12, 2006, thereby canceling Ball's plans to release sequels. In 2007, a new film based on the game was announced, in particular Real Life 4, which had just been released. Principal photography on the film began in September 2007 and continued until December of that year, with filming locations including Miami and surrounding areas in south Florida.
Real Life: The Movie premiered at the New Line Theater in Los Angeles on June 1, 2009, and was released in the United States by New Line Cinema on June 10. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $192 million worldwide. The sequel, Real Life: The 2nd Dream, was released in 2010.
== Plot ==
The main character of the film, a schoolboy named Tom, lives an ordinary life among problems with his family, studies and friends. But every night he is visited by amazing and incredible dreams that seem real to him.
One day, after visiting a doctor, Tom learns that his dreams are an unusual case related to his brain, and he is offered surgery to get rid of this problem. But the guy refuses the operation, because for him dreams have become a consolation and a place where he feels free and happy.
Soon Tom begins to realize that his dreams are not just random images, but something more that is connected with his destiny. He begins to plunge into the world of his dreams and every night finds himself in a new dimension, where adventures, riddles and meetings with incredible creatures await him.
Gradually, Tom realizes that his dreams may hold clues to his real life and the problems he faces. And now he has to make a decision: stay in the world of dreams and explore their secrets, or return to reality and fight the problems that surround him.
== Cast ==
* Leonardo Nam as Tom
* Brian Goodman as Tom's father.
* Zackery Ty Bryan as Vito
* Linda Boyd as Tom's mother
* Jason Tobin as Earl
* Keiko Kitagawa as Marissa
* Nikki Griffin as Shannon
* Satoshi Tsumabuki as Trevor
* Keiichi Tsuchiya as Fisherman
== Reception ==
=== Box office ===
Real Life: The Movie earned over $21 million in its opening weekend. The film itself received a limited release in Japan. The US box office grossed $82 million, and internationally it grossed another $110 million, bringing its total to $192 million, becoming a box office success on a $40 million budget. According to a poll conducted by Universal over the weekend, 58% of the audience was male and 60% were under 25.
=== Critical response ===
Real Life: The Movie has an approval rating of 51% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on reviews from 142 critics; average rating 6.2/10. The site's consensus reads: "Overwhelming gunplay combined with a lackadaisical plot and poor acting make this a very mediocre adaptation of the iconic game." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 53 out of 100 based on reviews from 32 critics, indicating "mixed to average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an A- on an A to F scale.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised the film, awarding it three out of four stars, saying the director "takes an established franchise and makes it surprisingly fresh and intriguing", adding that Real Life: The Movie is "more observational than we expect". Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter said that "it's not a movie, it's Hell's Kitchen." Todd McCarthy of Variety gave the film a positive review and praised "good, old-fashioned genre filmmaking done in a no-nonsense, unpretentious style."
Richard Roeper slammed the film, saying, “The whole thing is absurd. The acting is so terrible, these are some of the worst performances I've seen in a long, long time." Ethan Alter of Premiere magazine was particularly critical of Tom's character: "So many stupid decisions are made throughout the film that it's a wonder anyone wants to be associated with him." Matt Singer of the Village Voice called it "a subculture in search of a compelling storyline."
=== Retrospective Reviews ===
In critics' ratings of the series, Real Life: The Movie has often ranked at the bottom of the list in the past. Over time, however, it began to be viewed more favorably, and was ranked third on the list of all fast films by IndieWire, The Washington Post, TheWrap, Screen Rant, and Collider. Esquire and BuzzFeed News named it the second best film in the series.