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: i feel no hesitation in saying that " there 's something about mary " is the best film that i will see all year .
from the moment the credits started to roll at the end of the picture , there was no doubt in my mind that i had seen a masterpiece that will remain unsurpassed in the remaining months of 1998 .
it is that good of a film .
when gene siskel said this about " fargo " only a few months into ' 96 , i dismissed the notion as ridiculous .
how could you possibly know that a film is so great that nothing you could possibly see in the future could beat it ? but after seeing the farrelly 's hilarious and surprisingly heartfelt masterwork , i now know what siskel was talking about .
once in a ( very great ) while , a film comes along that is
so daring , so brilliant and simply so enjoyable
that at the end , you just want to stand up and cheer .
and you know , at that instant , that you have just experienced something very special .
now for the shocker ; " mary " is the grossest and most disgusting film i have ever viewed ( " pink flamingos " obviously notwithstanding ) .
the movie is so rude
and , i guess , inappropriate in nature that i had a hard time sitting in a theater watching it with my parents
( luckily i had seen it before them , so i could warn the about what they were in for ) .
forget " blazing saddles " , " animal house " and even the former king of gross - out comedy , " monty python 's meaning of life "
; they were all only preludes to the farrelly 's assault on the senses .
in fact , this may even be the funniest film i 've ever had the pleasure of seeing
( the only real contender is " monty python and the holy grail " ) , and most certainly the most hilarious to come out all decade .
but as funny as it is , something also has to be said about the overall sweetness of " mary " ; it has a huge heart .
you see , the farrelly 's are truly gifted filmmakers .
they do n't just present you with a string of dick and fart jokes ( although there are plenty to go around ) .
they also , very wisely , add an unbelievable amount of charisma to the main characters and actually have them develop as the story progresses .
it 's funny , though .
if you just look at an outline of the story , it seems kind of contrived and predictable .
but believe me , it is anything
but .
ben stiller plays ted , a very shy and clumsy teenage geek who lusts after the school
babe , mary ( cameron diaz ) . after he sticks up for her retarded brother , warren ( w .
early brown - the cameraman , believe it or not , from " scream " ) , his dreams come true when she invites him to the prom .
in one of the film 's funniest scenes , something goes wrong
( i wo n't ruin it for those who know nothing about the film ) and ted is unable to face mary ever again .
jump to the present .
after years of self - loathing , ted finally hires private detective pat healy ( a suitably slimy matt dillon ) to track her down so he can have one last chance at winning the woman he has loved since high school .
healy finds that mary is still a full - blown hottie and decides to try and keep her for himself .
admittingly , the basic story line leaves a little to be desired .
after all , with a not - really - all - that - funny premise , how can you sustain laughter for nearly two hours ?
somehow , the farrelly 's pull it off .
the performances here are also right on target .
as ted , stiller adds just the right amount of clumsy charm to make his character not irritating , as he would normally be , but very lovable .
and cameron diaz is perfect in her role for obvious reasons , but the actor who really grabs your attention is w .
earl brown as mary 's brother .
no other actor has even come close to playing a mentally retarded man with as much natural ease as brown displays here .
i know he wo n't be nominated , but this is the guy who should not be counted out when it comes time to hand out the oscar nods in february . as good as the actors are , though , it 's the directors ' movie all the way .
i guarantee that on almost every other top ten list at the end of the year , you will see the number one space occupied by steven spielberg 's wwii epic " saving private ryan " .
and yes , that is a great film worthy of the recognition it has been getting .
but which is harder ; making a great war film or having your audience laugh so hard that they ca n't breath for minutes at a time
?
i 'll let you decide that one for yourself , but this critic is sticking to his guns .
there is just something about " mary " .
Solution: P