In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
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 )
Example solution: N
Example explanation: The phrases used in the review convey a negative sentiment (e.g. "presents it in a very bad package").

Problem: my giant begins with a monologue that 's more funny than not and a distinctive ' princess bride , ' medieval fairy - tale - in - the- ? 90s feel .
i was pleasantly surprised how sharp the comedy was , with very funny scenes occurring on a movie set in romania where talent agent sammy ( billy crystal ) is visiting a client and in the monastery where sammy ends up after being mysteriously saved when he accidentally plunges his car into a stream .
and when sammy meets max , his giant , mysterious savior played by gheorghe muresan , there is magic in the air ; albeit it a bit goofy , i loved every minute of it .
the film , of course , plays on the size difference between the two , and at times you would almost swear it must be special effects .
i particularly enjoyed a shot of sammy dangling his legs from a max - sized chair as the two face each over an enormous table and eat from oversized bowls and spoons .
i also liked jere burns ' ( from tv 's ' something so right ' ) performance as the director of the film in romania .
at this point , the primary flaw in the film is that gheorghe muresan is incredibly hard to understand , particularly during his fast - paced first scene .
it is unfortunate that the script required him to speak quickly right out of the gate , as i did understand him more as the film continued and i became accustomed to his speech .
however , about the time muresan becomes coherent , the characters head to new york and the film takes a dive . off the high board .
suddenly , we are expected to believe sammy is a do - whatever - it - takes slime ball .
up until this point he was pursuing his own interests to be sure , but he did n't come off as a desperate jerk .
if he had , the first scenes could never have been so lighthearted and magical .
but now , in new york , we are further introduced to his neglected wife and son , and his character is desperate enough to involve max in a disturbing giant vs .
midgets wrestling match , which i found quite unpleasant and jarring within the framework of the film .
indeed , many scenes stuck out of this film like incorrectly placed puzzle pieces .
this includes the scenes featuring steven seagal , when sammy gets max a role in a big , hollywood movie filming in las vegas .
while i enjoyed seeing seagal poke fun at himself , the scenes appeared to exist solely because of his participation , rather than because the film demanded it .
and the audience is required to take a huge leap to believe that max would win the role based on his quotations of shakespeare .
at this point i found myself thinking , ' we 're supposed to believe that someone would cast this guy in a film ? '
then i realized he was , and i was watching it .
in the final third , the film undergoes another transformation , this time to unbridled sentimentality .
note : major plot points are revealed in this and the final paragraph .
max went to america because sammy promised to reunited him with his childhood love , lillianna , who has n't seen him since he was a normal - sized kid .
her refusal to see max ( unbeknownst to him ) leads us to an awkward ' ends justify the means ' scene as sammy 's wife serena , played nicely by kathleen quinlan , poses as lillianna .
i found this scene offensive .
not only did it rely on deception to induce warm , fuzzy feelings from the audience , it reduced max to someone we should pity and coddle , which i thought was quite undeserved .
i think max could have handled the truth , gratuitous illness and all .
late in the film we learn max , and in fact all giants , have a heart condition which shortens their lives considerably .
this could be an enlightening revelation , but the film seemingly presents it only to justify sammy 's transformation into a caring , sensitive guy -- and hey , a great dad and husband , too !
' my giant ' suffers from a poorly constructed story line and undeveloped characters whose actions are determined by plot points rather than their own internal persuasions .
a stronger story with more room for character growth might have been possible if the focus was on max 's struggle to be accepted and cast in movies instead of sammy 's struggles to get money and become a better person .
in this scenario , max 's illness could have been a integral part of the film not a story motivator .
sentiment and emotion would have followed naturally .
instead , we 're apparently not supposed to like sammy until the end , but we 're not allowed to focus on max .
crystal and muresan give adequate and at times enjoyable performances , but in the end , ' my giant ' left me feeling like i 'd been fed gruel from a giant spoon .
Solution: N