The Good Guy

Starring Alexis Bledel, Scott Porter, and Bryan Greenberg.

This film was one of those rare gems that you turn on late at night because you just want to watch something light but it turns into an amazing well developed feature. The whole reason I wanted to watch this movie was because during my time working at a video store in the summer the trailer played a lot. This trailer also featured my all time favorite song, a song that is not often heard outside my own headphones. Along with my favorite song in the trailer, I thought the plot was interesting although a little over done. By time it was out of DVD and I had heard things about it on the interwebs it was being referred to as yet another Alexis Bledel flick where she has to decide between two impossibly handsome men. So my decision to watch this film at a little past 1am on a saturday night was to watching Alexis Bledel pick between these two men to a nice soundtrack. That's not really what I got.

It opens on Scott Porter's character, Tommy, narrating as he drives in a taxi and rings the doorbell to Alexis Bledel's Beth's apartment. Drama ensues however the audience is left going what the fuck is going on here. She hands him some money, tells him that she really is sorry for him and then we flashback to six weeks earlier. Tommy continues narrating, and possibly because of other articles I had spent my day reading I thought that Tommy was going to be a reliable narrator. How could I have been so silly?

At this point in the story Tommy and Beth have been dating for two months. Tommy is a hot shot on Wall Street and seems to have just about everything going for him. He's incredibly sweet to Beth as they talk about their past relationships and future dreams. Beth had been planning a trip to Italy for work but upon budget cuts the trip is cancelled, when Tommy hears about this he takes Beth to a secret spot in the city that's the closest he can get to taking her to Italy. Cue me "aaaawwww"-ing. Moving on.

One of Tommy's co-workers leaves for a better offer so Tommy decides to take Daniel (Bryan Greenberg), an former army solider who was working on their computer systems and show him how to be hot shot Wall Street salesman. Daniel is socially awkward, shy, bookish and all around adorable while still looking like a hot piece of man. Tommy helps him out of his shell a little bit through a makeover and a couple night teaching him how to flirt. Here is where we get another voiceover from Tommy, letting us know this is where things get a little messy. He invited a girl he met at a bar to stay the night because she lost her purse at the bar, he confirms to us that nothing happened but he still decided not to tell Beth.

The story propels forward and Daniel joins Beth's book club and the two start falling for each other. It's cute. They aren't really the focus of the story, it's more Tommy's story. Beth begins to feel Tommy pushing away and during a night out with the girls she sees Tommy's ex, who has been stalking him their whole relationship. Beth decides it's time to confront her, while we can all see this plot twist coming it was handled very nicely. Beth learns that Tommy has a slew of women that he calls his girlfriend and she calls him to end things. Ultimately Tommy things Daniel told Beth, he punches Daniel then goes off to sleep with someone else. Beth calls Daniel to comfort her and he tells her that it's always been her, cue more "awww"s.

During all this Tommy's life is spiraling out of control, none of his ladies are answering his calls, he lost his wallet at Daniels when he punched him and now he can't pay for his hooker. This is how he ends up at Beth's. Now we're back in the present time and the voiceover returns. Tommy says that he know he's made some mistakes, but then out walks another girl from his bedroom and we hear him feed her the same line he fed Beth earlier. That damn douchebag. There is another cute moment between Beth and Daniel but that's not what I want to focus on.

While the plot between Beth and Daniel was adorable, it was Tommy's story arc that really kept me interested. During the beginning of the film it was the things that Tommy was doing that had me "aww"-ing, but his character does a complete 180 that I should have seen coming but truth is, I didn't.

That being said, the title. The Good Guy. From this story it would appear that the good guy is in fact, Daniel and not Tommy. However, we don't learn a lot about Daniel. It's clear that this is not his story, it's Tommy's. I love that. This film made me question the title and think deeply about it. Who is The Good Guy?

I gave this film a total of **** (4) and 1/2 stars. It was well written and held my attention until almost 4am. It wasn't the best acted movie I've seen by a long shot, but it was enjoyable and had a killer soundtrack. Seriously, check out the song Your Ex-Lover Is Dead by Stars. It's a good movie for one of those nights where you don't have much going on and just feel like a good without too much thinking, just the right amount.

Sucker Punch

I took a mental health day and went to see Sucker Punch. I've been excited about this film since I heard about it, I have a weak spot for ass-kicking chicks. However as most people know it's been getting horrible reviews. This terrified me, I was so worried that I'd go into this movie and it would disappoint me. I tried to keep my expectations low, going to see it just for the stunning visually that Zack Synder always delivers. What I got was so much more. To use the over used play on the tagline, I was unprepared.

Shortly after the movie started I realized it was not going to be what I was expecting and while I did see a lot of the plot coming it didn't annoy me. I found it comforting, in a film where so much is happening that is abnormal it was nice to not have an overly complicated plot to untangle. It took me a while to adjust to the different levels of reality, but once that happened I was enjoying it.

The biggest complaint that people have been having with the film is that it's anti-feminist and not empowering to woman at all. I completely disagree. I found it to be very empowering, not just to females but to everyone. [SPOILER] One of the main themes of the film is guardian angels and how they can take different forms to guide and save you, however this theme is not heavy in religion. By the end of the film the message is clear that each person in the audience has the weapons they need to survive. What I don't understand was how someone could say that isn't empowering? I walked out of the theaters feeling like I could take on the world.

As a regard to it being anti-feminist, the critics are using the argument about their skimpy costumes and sexy dance moves. Being a feminist does not mean that women need to become more masculine, not at all. Part of bring a woman is feeling comfortable as a woman, the film really presses this point. The girls use the fact that they are woman to get what they want from men, yes that is very true. But is that anti-feminist? No. There is nothing wrong with knowing how to get something from someone else, whether that person is male or female. Part of surviving is doing what needs to be done, I think the film was very clear that surviving was the point. These girls did nothing wrong by dancing for the men to achieve their goal, plus that part of the film was set in a brothel.

Overall, I gave the film ***** stars.
I thought it was creative and empowering. Very empowering.