Teacher: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
Teacher: Now, understand the problem? If you are still confused, see the following example:
plot : two teen couples go to a church party , drink and then drive .
they get into an accident .
one of the guys dies , but his girlfriend continues to see him in her life , and has nightmares .
what 's the deal ?
watch the movie and " sorta " find out . . .
critique : a mind - fuck movie for the teen generation that touches on a very cool idea , but presents it in a very bad package .
which is what makes this review an even harder one to write , since i generally applaud films which attempt to break the mold , mess with your head and such ( lost highway & memento ) , but there are good and bad ways of making all types of films , and these folks just did n't snag this one correctly
.
they seem to have taken this pretty neat concept , but executed it terribly .
so what are the problems with the movie ?
well , its main problem is that it 's simply too jumbled
.
it starts off " normal " but then downshifts into this " fantasy " world in which you , as an audience member ,
have no idea what 's going on
.
there are dreams , there are characters coming back from the dead , there are others who look like the dead , there are strange apparitions , there are disappearances , there are a looooot of chase scenes , there are tons of weird things that happen , and most of it is simply not explained .
now i personally do n't mind trying to unravel a film every now and then , but when all it does is give me the same clue over and over again , i get kind of fed up after a while , which is this film 's biggest problem .
it 's obviously got this big secret to hide , but it seems to want to hide it completely until its final five minutes .
and do they make things entertaining , thrilling or even engaging , in the meantime ?
not really .
the sad part is that the arrow and i both dig on flicks like this , so we actually figured most of it out by the half - way point , so all of the strangeness after that did start to make a little bit of sense , but it still did n't the make the film all that more entertaining .
i guess the bottom line with movies like this is that you should always make sure that the audience is " into it " even before they are given the secret password to enter your world of understanding .
i mean , showing melissa sagemiller running away from visions for about 20 minutes throughout the movie is just plain lazy ! !
okay , we get it .
. .
there are people chasing her and we do n't know who they are .
do we really need to see it over and over again ?
how about giving us different scenes offering further insight into all of the strangeness going down in the movie ?
apparently , the studio took this film away from its director and chopped it up themselves , and it shows .
there might 've been a pretty decent teen mind - fuck movie in here somewhere , but i guess " the suits " decided that turning it into a music video with little edge , would make more sense .
the actors are pretty good for the most part , although wes bentley just seemed to be playing the exact same character that he did in american beauty , only in a new neighborhood .
but my biggest kudos go out to sagemiller , who holds her own throughout the entire film , and actually has you feeling her character 's unraveling .
overall , the film does n't stick
because it does n't entertain , it 's confusing , it rarely excites and
it feels pretty redundant for most of its runtime , despite a pretty cool ending and explanation to all of the craziness that came before it .
oh ,
and by the way , this is not a horror or teen slasher flick . . .
it 's just packaged to look that way because someone is apparently assuming that the genre is still hot with the kids .
it also wrapped production two years ago and has been sitting on the shelves ever since .
whatever . .
. skip it !
where 's joblo coming from ?
a nightmare of elm street 3 ( 7/10 ) - blair witch 2 ( 7/10 ) - the crow ( 9/10 ) - the crow : salvation ( 4/10 )
- lost highway ( 10/10 ) - memento ( 10/10 ) - the others ( 9/10 ) - stir of echoes ( 8/10 )
Solution: N
Reason: The phrases used in the review convey a negative sentiment (e.g. "presents it in a very bad package").

Now, solve this instance: ' the bachelor ' is one of the best terrible movies you will ever see . wading through
this gooey , detestable sludge is quite the chore for even a dedicated romantic .
those hoping to find some genuine charm and feeling behind this chris o'donnell vehicle should wander elsewhere ; ' the bachelor ' is a painfully clumsy mess strung together with a few brief moments of surprising poignancy . awaiting these moments by enduring the rest of the film is certainly not worth your time or money .
although he has not quite evolved out of the stereotypical pretty - boy cocoon , chris o'donnell has an effortless charm as an actor .
most will recognize him as the high - flying robin from the two latest ' batman ' films , but other abilities are evident behind his boyish smile .
can o'donnell carry the weight of a film on his shoulders ?
perhaps , if he found the proper vehicle . . .
but ' the bachelor ' falls far short of the requirements .
the actor just ca n't register with such a pathetic screenplay as the guiding light to success .
a few instances of adorable humor aside , it becomes apparent that no one could save the festering mess that is ' the bachelor ' .
o'donnell plays jimmie , a hopeless romantic in his late twenties who 's progressing in a serious relationship with anne ( renee zellweger ) .
jimmie takes anne out for dinner to the restaurant specifically used for proposals , and attempts to ask for her hand in marriage .
the problem is that his proposal sucks .
big time .
you can tell things are n't going pleasantly , because jimmie gets the infamous ? deer - in - the - headlights ' look when anne questions his approach .
and then , the plot ( along with the stupidity of the movie ) thickens .
jimmie 's grandfather ( peter ustinov ) dies suddenly , leaving a video will behind for his grandson ( who also happens to be his only living relative ) .
everybody is speechless when grandpa declares that he is passing down an inheritance in the amount of 100 million dollars to jimmie .
of course , there 's a catch : he must get married before his 30th birthday , stay joined with his bride for an entire decade , and produce healthy children within the first five years .
the bad news is that jimmie 's birthday is the following day .
with anne out of town , he must find a willing bride to share his riches with . . .
and within a very limited time frame .
there are certainly a few worthwhile aspects of ' the bachelor ' .
for one , the movie 's approach is interesting and not dripping with clich ? .
another is the colorful cast .
o'donnell and zellweger are cute together , and the supporting cast tries relentlessly to rescue the film from drowning in it 's own mediocrity .
ustinov is enjoyable as the cranky grandfather figure , and james cromwell is sincere and effective as a wise priest dragged through jimmie 's marital adventures .
and now the cons
: the approach may be interesting , but in trying an old - fashioned method , director gary sinyor gives the film a synthetic feel .
the characters are drawn with obvious , broad strokes , and the plot is bogged down with everything humanly imaginable .
yes , ' the bachelor ' is far more frustrating than cute .
the screenplay is lamely written , and the subject matter poorly conceived .
the considerable charm of the two leads is thoughtlessly wasted , along with whatever promise the film initially contained .
potential goes out the window early to suit sinyor 's ' colorful ' approach , but not a minute of this hapless drivel seems accustomed to the director 's wishes .
' the bachelor ' becomes lost without a homing beacon to save it .
you 've seen the tv spots , have n't you ?
o'donnell is madly rushing down a deserted street and the caption reads ' what is this man running from ? ' in actuality , he 's fleeing from thousands of angry brides who want to marry him and inherit his fortune ( it 's one of the few enjoyable sequences in the film ) .
after seeing the movie , i believe that the approaching horde could be something else .
o'donnell could be running from his angry fans , who have just endured ' the bachelor ' , and are hunting him down for revenge .
Student:
N