Part 1. Definition
In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
Part 2. 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 )
Answer: N
Explanation: The phrases used in the review convey a negative sentiment (e.g. "presents it in a very bad package").
Part 3. Exercise
janeane garofalo in a romantic comedy
-- it was a good idea a couple years ago with the truth about cats and dogs but is almost excruciating in the matchmaker .
this is a by - the - books movie that plods along on a predestined course with no surprises and very few laughs .
it also jumps on the ever - popular political satire bandwagon and manages to fall flat there , too
.
garofalo plays a campaign aide to a massacusetts senator ( jay o .
sanders ) running for reelection .
denis leary plays the stereotypical strategist with no ethics who decides the only way for the scandal- plagued senator to win is to play up his irish roots and cash in on that boston roman catholic democrat contingent that 's made the kennedy family so popular .
so leary orders garofalo to go to ireland and dig up some relatives to exploit .
she soon learns why " easier said than done " is the mantra of movies like this .
the matchmaker falls for every cliche of things that can go wrong
-- garofalo has to take a tiny plane to ireland , almost misses the bus to town , ca n't get a hotel room , ends up in the smallest , trashiest one around , has a dog piss on her luggage , and so on .
then comes what roger ebert calls the " meet cute .
"
it happens in every romance : the man and woman have to meet each other for the first time in some unconventional , cinematic way .
in the matchmaker , it happens when garofalo walks into her hotel bathroom and finds a nude sean ( david o'hara ) in the bathtub , his dog sitting at his side .
no points for guessing it 's the same dog that just made water on her luggage .
also no points for guessing garofalo hates o'hara on sight .
that 's how it works in movies like these .
i know from the instant i saw that irishman in the bathtub that she 'd hate him for awhile
, then succumb to his charms , live happily for a reel or so before allowing some superficial detail to throw the relationship into turmoil , after which they 'd reconcile in time for a happy irish tune to play over the end credits .
i have n't mentioned the movie 's twist yet .
garofalo comes to the small ireland town during the annual matchmaking festival , during which lonely folks from around the county pair off into a future of bliss .
milo o'shea ( who looks like an irish tom snyder ) is the matchmaker who pops onscreen occasionally to spew his words of wisdom and bring lonely souls together .
rest assured he 'll do all he can to match up garofalo and o'hara .
oh , and in keeping with the matchmaker 's utter predictability , he dies toward the end .
what the message here ? sometimes even the most respectable person of comedic distinction , like garofalo , will sell out with a weak script .
i was excited to see garofalo and leary in the same movie , but they actually only have two or three scenes together .
leary stays stateside , for the most part , yelling at garofalo over the phone and generally being an asshole .
he even undoes himself with the old microphone 's still on after he 's done giving the speech cliche .
both of them should have known better .
Answer:
N