Reviews

There is an undeniable resemblance between this story and Cem Yilmaz's first movie Hersey Çok Güzel Olacak. I think Cem Yilmaz should have chosen a completely different story to avoid any competition between the two movies, in which this one will be the obvious loser.

For a genius comedian such as Cem Yilmaz, the story is unexpectedly weak. For most of the scenes the movie seems to rely on the performances of the actors, and it is really a good thing to have a bunch of well qualified actors in the movie. The script has some very beautiful peak points, and i don't know how Cem Yilmaz missed the opportunity to use them to the last draining point.

The movie makes you laugh, if this is what you are looking for in a Cem Yilmaz movie. And it helps you having a fun time, but when the movie ends, you feel like there is something missing in it, and if you think about it, you will see that it is the script as a whole is missing.

i have been hearing all the time that the movie was not so good, but had some marvelous scenes of Istanbul. so i hesitated to choose it as a Sunday night movie to watch with my wife.

it turned out to be a perfect choice with more than i expected. knowing Yilmaz Erdogan's earlier movies which don't have a real scenario but some funny dialogs, i wasn't expecting more than that. however i came up with a fulfilled cinema movie with well organized scenario, very smart dialogs, and of course, really the best actors and actresses of the genre. And also scenes from Istanbul were really amazing which increased the taste.

it was really a nice choice to watch with lots of fun and never boring.

I think there are two kinds of kid movies. In the first group, there is a good story which both kids and even adults find interesting. You also have a good casting and feel that the producers respect the audience. In the second group, you see that a standard movie has been converted into the kids world, and child players act as if they are much more older then they actually are. Even though i must admit that this film has a relatively good story, i think it is in the second category, which makes it a extremely disturbing film. You just can't feel any warmth for the child actors which causes you dislike it all from the beginning.

Watching the movie second time after more then 20 years, i still think this is a good entertainer if you have 2 hours to spend doing absolutely nothing. however it starts like a spiritual horror movie, and the comedy feature might seem very odd, very alienating if you don't know what to expect. The script is silly as it is normally expected, but the mixture of horror and comedy seems to have the right formula, so that you are not overwhelmed neither with the tone of the suspense nor the comedy. On the other hand, there are some parts reminding Evil Dead, and that's for sure I would prefer to watch Evil Dead tenth time instead of watching House.

It starts like a fine goof movie, but the more you watch the more you feel like you will have an headache because of the endless dialogs and inner speeches.

That's OK to have too many dialogs in a movie about people who just talk but do nothing, but i would really prefer to see something really going on other then just listening. What I mean is, you hear the guys mention about playing pool to make some money once or twice, but you actually see them playing pool to the end of the film. Or you see the Alex guy talking to Lizzy about how he supported her about her career choice, but you just wish you had seen a scene about it. After all, you watch a movie to see things are happening, not listening, right?

I think acting was good, but I'm not very sure about directing. I understand the director has experimented some weird angles, but sometimes it becomes disturbing as it was in the pool game scene I've just mentioned above.

The film starts like a promising story about the struggles of an old lady who decides to leave her husband and financially secured but dissatisfied life for a new beginning. However, it quickly turns into a really cheesy love story. If you are a senior citizen who loves to read third class romance books this film might be appealing for you, but if you want something deeper just stay away from it.

I am not against love stories but i am against the way they are handled, the way this film is handled in particular. It is a one dimensional shallow story in which everything goes just smooth. Even if some problems occur, they are there to be solved easily so that everybody, especially the audience will feel happy. This film might be a perfect textbook about how a good idea can be wasted for the sake of reaching average television audience.

I also really hated the way Johnny character is depicted, as because this character does not reflect the reality even a bit. The likelihood that you will hit an average Romanian who is highly intellectual who has the best taste of everything, who can play piano, who has famous artist relatives if he is not himself an artist, who also have carpenter abilities, and also the perfect romantic lover, is not more than the likelihood you will hit such a guy from your own local town. This character might be only reflecting the image of a middle-European man in the fantasies of western world. But again, I don't think the producers cared about anything other then trying to shoot the most corny film ever.

The film starts with a voice over telling the audience where they are, and who the characters are. And that is the moment i started to dislike the movie. With all the endless possibilities any film director have in hand, i really find it a very easy and cheap solution to express the situation with a voice over telling everything. I actually believe voice overs are betrayals to the film making concept.

I hate to hear from a voice over saying where we are, which date we are at, and especially what the characters feel and think. I believe that a director has to find a visual way to transmit the feelings and the thoughts of the characters to the audience.

But after the bad influencing intro, a very striking movie begins and keeps going for a fairly long enough time. The lives of a middle class family and all the members individually are depicted in a perfect realistic way. I think the director has a talent for capturing real life situations. For example, a father who has to make his private calls from the bathroom might seem abnormal at first, but life itself leads us some situations which might seem abnormal but also very normal as well. I think the director is a very good observer about real life.

But that is it. After a while the realism in the movie begins to sacrifice the story-telling. I really felt like I'm having a big headache because of the non-stop talking characters. It was as if the actors and actresses were given the subject and were allowed to improvise the dialogs. It is realistic really, but characters always asking "really, is that so" etc. to each other, or characters saying "no" or "are you listening to me," ten times when saying it only once is just enough causes me to have a headache.

I also think the play practicing and book reading scenes are more then they should be. I understand that the play and the book in the movie are very much related to the plot, but i think the director has missed the point where he should stop showing these scenes.

This is just a typical road trip movie, in which a bunch people come together (who may or may not know each other before they come together) and go for a journey for a specific reason. But jut like any other road trip movie, they encounter all the silly things that can happen to a person. There's a scene where Seth Green's character gives up saying "it is not possible that things can get worse" and just at the moment a thunder storm starts, and things get even worse.

Two of the main characters are named Tom & Jerry which is a perfect choice, because in all of those Tom & Jerry cartoons I've watched, I didn't see them get into as much as trouble as the characters in this movie get into.

Just like any other copies of the genre, with the help of all that adventure they encounter, they end up their journey with a moralistic lesson which might be about friendship, or live the moment, or any other thing. And these don't help the movie even a little bit, because as a 30 year old movie watcher, I've seen them all.

I'm at the same age with the characters in the movie, and i enjoyed their referrals about Star Wars and Culture Club. However they were used quite too often for a movie of this genre. I also think giving two of the characters almost the same name (Denise and Dennis) is really very lame, when you think there are plenty enough names to give each of the characters a unique name.

However, I don't want to sound so harsh on my comments like some others did. I enjoyed watching this film, because it was fun anyway. But it had nothing new to offer me. This is just a typical funny road trip movie, and that's all.

After watching this movie, i recognized the two things.

First of all, this is a movie about being a team. The main character here starts a journey from the point of being the most selfish man in a team to a real teammate.

The second thing, this movie is praising being old. After watching all those "stay young forever" crap, it is good to see a film which deals with being old with a quite realistic way, but of course with the magic happy ending point of view of Hollywood factory.

Besides that, i liked the fast cut scene and combine technique which really has geared up the speed of the film.