Tag Archives: Romance

This Happy Feeling Review

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It’s time for one of those films where a weak romance really holds it back. There’s only so much you can do with the rest of the film when this isn’t on point after all. I also think the film could have gone a little more all out with the comedy since it doesn’t tend to be laugh out loud humorous most of the time. I did enjoy a bird that was running around for most of the movie though.

The movie starts off with Mitch realizing that he is super old and the world of the theatre has long since passed him by. Part of him wants to get back into the business but the rest of him knows that he can’t keep up. There is a lady that he has been involved with for a long time named Nita but he’s bored of her as well. Well, one day a girl named Janet stops by his place after being defeated by the rain and so he lets her stick around. The problem is that she’s fallen for him and this inflates Mitch’s ego. Perhaps he’s not over the hill yet but at the same time he knows that a relationship is a bad idea here due to the really large age gap. What can he do?

Well the obvious answer is to just not get into a relationship but most main characters aren’t smart enough for that. This is very much a rebound type of film. Mitch was bored with Nita so he briefly gets involved with Janet and then common sense returns so he goes back to Nita. The problem is that it’s not particularly satisfying for anyone. Mitch proved that he can’t be 100% trustworthy at this point. There are no take backs and the film should have probably gone for a more somber ending where he retires or something and runs off. Janet goes to find a new job while Bill and Nita just wonder what they should do next. That would be the ideal ending.

I’m still glad that Mitch saw reason by the end. Better late than never and all that but the whole plot is definitely more on the annoying side. It helps that most of the cast is rather annoying so you’re rooting for Mitch to prove the doubters wrong at least in terms of his horseback riding and acting ability. Lets take Nita for example. She immediately gets super jealous of Janet and starts being petty about everything. You get why she would be upset since Mitch is intentionally portraying this as him cheating. Lets face it, there’s no other reason to have had Janet pick up the phone.

So I’m cool with Nita getting angry but where it gets unreasonable is when she takes it on everyone else. When Bill falls and gets seriously injured, she takes that time to gloat to Mitch instead of feeling bad about it. Not very compassionate right? Rather than being so bitter she should have just left Mitch entirely and moved on to someone else. Why stick around to be with someone that doesn’t appear to actually like you?

Meanwhile you’re supposed to be rooting for Bill to get together with Janet but why would you do that? The guy’s a jerk. He looks incredibly awful right from the jump as we find out that he moves on from girlfriend to girlfriend as such a common occurrence that nobody can keep track of who he is currently dating. Then when Janet is in a vulnerable spot he takes that moment to put some real pressure on her. Yeah part of it is a misunderstanding but most of it is just Bill trying to make a move under the worst set of circumstances possible. The worst part is that he blames her for all of this.

It’s a part of the film that is rather dated to be sure but even with that context there’s just no way for me to find Bill to be even remotely likable. The guy is just super annoying all the way through. He’s quick to turn on Mitch too even though he was the one who was badmouthing the guy. If Bill wasn’t so aggressive about that, the movie could have turned out very differently as well. I’m afraid that Janet isn’t fully innocent in all of this either though.

Janet knows that Bill likes her but she likes Mitch so she decides to make the older guy jealous by intentionally acting as if she likes Bill during the dance. What this means is that she is putting the guy on and is very intentional about doing this. Manipulating someone emotionally is never cool. It’s a really underhanded trick and of course this just leaves Bill confused later on. Janet spends a lot of time working to seduce Mitch as well and obviously it’s successful since the guy has the willpower of an old banana but none of this really helps Janet as a character. If she was hopelessly in love with the guy and needed a reality check then that could at least give her some character development but instead she just walks back to Bill.

Yeah the romance here is just so bad. It’s all rebounds or romances that you couldn’t root for from the start. The only likable character here is Mitch’s maid who helps him out by fixing his back and generally helping out around the house. She’s a fun character and delivers about 90% of the film’s humor. She has a dry wit about her and is always in the right place at the right time. I don’t know what Mitch would do without her. She definitely elevates the film which makes her a model supporting character.

Like I mentioned before, the film just doesn’t have quite as much humor as you would expect. The romance itself feels like it’s played fairly serious the whole time. Mainly I think the issue here is that the humor is just too subtle to the point where it just can’t actually dominates the scene even when the joke is being played. So this ends up being more of a drama and it isn’t able to succeed. It would have needed a stronger cast of characters for that.

Overall, This Happy Feeling isn’t a particularly good movie. It makes quite a few mistakes in the romance and it just isn’t able to overcome them. The title may remind you of the hit anime, My Happy Marriage but that title is infinitely better than this one. So unless you are desperate for a romance film, you should give this one a skip. There are many better titles within the genre to watch instead. It’s also important to remember even in real life that you never want to be the second choice. Don’t be the rebound guy and instead keep on searching until you’re the starter. Otherwise you’re stacking the deck against yourself in the risk department.

Overall 4/10

Brothers Review

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This review is of the edited TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

Uh oh, it’s time for one of those films where everyone makes so many mistakes that the film can’t possibly make a comeback. You always hope that maybe, just maybe the film is not going in the direction that you expected it to go but ultimately it does and all you can do is watch it happen in real time.

The film starts off by introducing us to two brothers, Sam and Tommy. They are very different people and contrast each other almost completely. Sam is super responsible and is a soldier who goes off into battle to make the world a better place. Tommy tends to be reckless and get drunk, the guy is just coming out of jail for robbery. Well, one day Sam heads off to war and doesn’t come back. He’s said to be dead and so his wife Grace is devastated. Tommy wants to do his best to step up an help out now but the problem is that he ends up falling for Grace. Is this his big chance to finally have her to himself?

So the first thing that completely obliterates the movie right out of the gate is the romance. Look, we all know these things from a young age thanks to the school of common sense. You don’t go after anyone who is dating family. Doesn’t matter if it’s the girlfriend of a sibling, cousin, parents, some third removed uncle, etc. They are completely off limits. I know this next part’s gonna hurt but bear with me on this. There is no time limit on this. Yessss, even if they break up at some point, you are not allowed to be the rebound. I’m afraid that this girl is out of your reach forever now.

You can cry it out for a little while, put some distance and make sure you don’t see this person for a while, etc. However you need to cope, just remember that this is a social rule of complete authority. Me personally, I don’t care much for a lot of social rules. I tend to think a lot of them are outdated but this is one that just makes sense ethically so yeah it still holds up. If you are in love with that person then you better be prepared to internalize that all the way to the grave. This also applies to friends as well by the way. It’s not quite as ironclad there but it’s still something to keep in mind. Don’t go after your friend’s girl either.

So then the question becomes, “If I’m extremely weak willed how do I resist making a move?” Well if you’re so weak willed that you can’t control yourself then obviously you have to move to another country so that you’re never in the same room together. Fortunately most people have at least basic self control so you should be fine. Unfortunately this movie doesn’t go in that direction. Tommy does end up getting together with Grace after they were both flirting for a while and then get drunk. Maybe…..mayyyyybe you shouldn’t be getting drunk with someone who is emotionally vulnerable at the time?

Make no mistake, Grace gets some of the blame to be sure but I’m putting most of this on Tommy. Simply put, it’s way more personal there since he is actually Sam’s brother. That will always carry a bit more weight since we’re talking direct family here. He never should have let things happen and the fact that they stopped afterwards is barely a silver lining. It still happened and permanently destroyed any trust that the relationship could have had for Sam and Grace. So there’s no coming back from that. The film is about Tommy becoming a better person and helping out but this undermines the whole plot.

Meanwhile it also hurts Grace a whole lot. If the film was going to play her up as in a different role where she wanted a new husband because there were bills to pay or she was going to be in debt now then that would still be terrible but at least it would be a plan and not a mistake. You just can’t make these kinds of mistakes so either way it’s a big loss for her. Finally you have Sam and hey…he’s the role model right? The guy you can count on in all situations to make the right decision? Well the film has to drag him through the mud as well.

After he’s captured and tortured for a while Sam is ultimately told to make the big choice. If he murders someone else in cold blood then he can escape and in that moment Sam puts his life above the other guy’s in order to escape. It’s just awful and a jaded look at how humans will ultimately make the wrong call when put under pressure. That’s a big no no in my book. For starters, you already know they’re going to murder and torture him some more after this so why even go out on their terms? Make a move for the gun or something and best case they shoot you in the head as a painless death. Your odds are much better at dying quickly this way.

Maybe you’ll somehow hit the 1 in a billion jackpot and make a comeback but what you don’t do is murder the guy. If we at least got a scene where Sam says he did it because he thought the guy was going to be tortured a lot more and wanted to put him out of his misery then that would at least be worth discussion. Misguided I would argue but there is a very strong and legitimate case to be made for that reasoning. Nah, Sam just did it on the hopes that he could go home.

Unfortunately he has a lot of PTSD after that and the whole affair with Grace and Tommy did not help matters out at all. Ultimately this leads to a fairly explosive climax. A lot is going on and the film’s certainly very loud but the whole thing got way too dramatic. None of the characters were particularly likable by the end. The film would have been better off being an emotional road to recovery type of film. Remove the scene with Grace and Tommy and instead focus on both of them respectfully working to move on and honor Sam’s memory. The real tragedy here is that the movie has a lot of groundwork for that kind of plot and you can see the potential. In the end it just didn’t happen.

There’s also more drama with Tommy’s father putting him down and saying a lot of hurtful things that he can’t take back. That plot could have been handled more tactfully I’d say. The writing is rather over reliant on language so the TV version really had its work cut out for it there. The pacing is okay at least. The film’s rather long but there is a lot to cover. Of course the war scenes tend to be rather violent so when the film isn’t being dramatic and dark you’re seeing the soldiers get tortured. It’s a little hard to enjoy the happy moments at home as a result. This contrast is intentional but it’s not doing the film any favors.

Overall, The moral of this film is really how one mistake can change a person’s entire life. That’s what happened to all 3 of the main characters. They did things that they can’t take back and will have to live with for the rest of their lives. The ending tries to offer a little hope but for the most part I would say that it is a sad ending. Things will never return to the way that they once were. That’s life of course but usually you hope for better circumstances.

Overall 2/10

Kimi No Todoke: From Me to You Season 2 Review

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Yeah we’re back with the next Kimi No Todoke season already! Unfortunately this one isn’t quite as solid as the first season. I do have to deduct a star for the characters taking Ls all over the place in a lot of situations where things should have been easily resolved. The drama feels quite a bit forced in a lot of ways. Ultimately I would say the show still goes back to its more wholesome roots in time but it’s not quite the carefree adventure that season 1 was. Of course it’s not a bad thing to get more serious and dramatic but you really have to earn it and I don’t feel like this season did.

After the events of the fist season, Kazuhaya and Sawako are a couple now. They did spend Christmas and New Year’s together after all so things were going great. Wait…they’re not together? Wait a minuteeeeeeee….and so the drama begins! All right so I know this can actually happen to some people where they don’t clearly assign the labels and don’t know that they’re dating but this is a bit much. Spending the holidays together in an obviously romantic setting should signal some bells. This isn’t even a case of the characters being together and just being embarrassed about their friends knowing. This is both characters actually thinking that the other may not see them romantically. Looks like Ayane and Chizuru are going to have a whole lot of work ahead of them. Particularly when a new guy named Miura shows up to stir the pot.

This season is about half the length of the first so it’s not very long and yet it should have only been 2 episodes based on the events that happen. Lets quickly talk about some of the plot conveniences here. First up, for Valentine’s Sawako makes everyone chocolates instead of Kazuhaya. Her reasoning is that they’re friendship chocolates and so she feels awkward because she’s not sure if it’s really friendship with him. So what does she do? She doesn’t give him anything and goes home. I’m also not giving her any excuses like Kurumi getting in her way because Kurumi just offers up a level 1 mental games remark that works for some reason.

At this point Sawako just needs to do better, particularly since Kurumi said they are rivals now. So she’s not going to go easy on her right? Well, Kazuhaya feels bad after that but he still tries. He says good morning to her the next few days and everything…but Sawako ignores him because she is feeling too flustered. She’s happy that he is talking to her but doesn’t know what to say. The problem is that part of her character has always been talking to explain things so there are no misunderstandings. Now she is suddenly the one being silent. At one point he even walks up to her and straight up asks what is going on and she has no real answer.

Meanwhile he has to watch the new guy Miura talking to her constantly, telling her to smile and all kinds of stuff. She is able to chat with literally everyone normally…except for him. It doesn’t help that he gets advice from lots of characters about how he doesn’t really understand her and everything. So a lot of this is on her for not communicating.

Finally he does make a big flub where he decides to confess but does it in such a roundabout way that it doesn’t work. “I like you” is the worst possible way to confess your feelings because it is probably the only main phrasing that could be misinterpreted. Then he and Sawako both have a parallel conversation where they misunderstand each other. I give Pin all the credit there when he told Kazyhaya that he blew it. Cmon you can do better than that. So then next Kazuhaya tries to be more distant so he doesn’t bother Sawako and everyone gets on his case about that.

In this case I’ll defend him. What else is he supposed to do? From his point of view, Sawako just flat out rejected him so he should give her a little space right? He’s not being mean or anything, that’s just a logical step. Of course meanwhile everyone else knows what is going on but aren’t telling him or Sawako. So yeah a lot of the drama here just doesn’t work. They could have texted each other at any point, actually spoken some words, etc. This season would have worked better in a way if the events were earlier on. Like before Christmas since they were at least slightly more distant before. By this point it’s just too late in the game.

Ironically the main romance was a lot more complete and natural in season 1 when it had to share with Chizuru while this season is all for them and now everything is going wrong. It’s still better than most Shojo romances by far because there are no rebounds for either of them and neither one of them ever even thinks about someone else. Even while their relationship is rocky, both characters want to find a way to make it work. That’s what puts the romance above the average one. The whole drama in this one is still out of left field and makes no mistake but if you think about it as a test, both still pass in loyalty.

The ending also would work as the ending to the series with the plotlines wrapped up. This time they both very clearly admit to dating so there should be no way for season 3 to reverse this. If they do then that would be absolutely crazy. Far as I’m concerned the rest of the series should just be about the two of them hanging out and making lots of fun memories. That’s the kind of wholesome series I signed up for after all. The show can feel free to dodge the usual story beat of having everyone find a partner as well. Just let them all hang out solo and focus on the main duo.

So even with the drama, Kazuhaya is still a good main character. He may have run into some issues but I do think he still fought for Sawako fairly hard. He still shuts down anyone trying to give her a hard time and does his best to be a good role model. The guy has a quick fuse and gets jealous easily so the fact that he’s always so nice and pleasant around Sawako is good. As you can guess from the earlier summary I’m a bit harsher on Sawako here. I feel like she did a lot of backsliding in terms of development.

Her season 1 character felt a little more self assured and confident. I feel like she would have spoken up in a lot of these circumstances and not let things go quite so far. She could have easily stopped the drama in the first place and then it would not have been an issue. By the end of the season she has regained her composure so that puts her in a good spot at least. Hopefully in the next one she can be solid from start to finish and then we will really be in business.

Meanwhile Ayane is still solid as always. With all of the drama in place she really has to work overtime to make sure that things don’t go wrong. In some cases she doesn’t find out the info right away so she isn’t always there to help but I don’t think it’s possible for anyone to be 100% tapped into all of the drama at all times. There’s just too much information but she is a caring person and has the confidence that Sawako needs. So at least that’s someone she can always count on.

Then there’s Chizuru who gets less to do in this season since her plot is done with. Right now with her and Ryu nothing’s really developing so they aren’t taking up the screentime there. She does her best to help Sawako out as well even though she doesn’t always understand the situation. She means well. Then Ryuu gets to help out a bit with Kazehaya. He’s really the only person that the main guy can turn to and it is important to have at least one friend. Ryuu doesn’t tend to talk much but even just having him around to listen is good.

Quick shoutout to say that Joe is still the worst character. Even Kazehaya has to tell him off at one point. Kurumi doesn’t get as much to do here but she is a solid rival. She tells Sawako the tough truths when necessary and always does it in a way where it sounds like an attack even though she is helping out. Now those are some serious skills. I can definitely appreciate that. She even slaps the new guy Miura in what was a pretty impressive animation moment with how fast she went. She’s like Ayane, but even tougher. Kurumi definitely turned out to be one of the best characters and in this season at least, she is second only to Pin.

Pin still gets the top spot of course. Do I even need to go into why that is? The guy is always ready for a lot of advice. Like Kurumi he tends to put on an act (It’s a different act though) but sneaks in some good nuggets of wisdom into his speeches. The characters rarely ever give him any props but he does look out for his students. I’d even say he does a very good job of it, the main characters would have taken longer to get back together if not for him.

Finally there is the new character Miura. So his gimmick is that he’s a nice guy and that’s a pretty good one but of course the characters don’t trust him. There’s a reason why the term “Nice Guy” is pretty much a meme at this point. Someone who acts super nice usually has something that he is hiding and doesn’t end up being all that pleasant at all. I would even say he already starts to break character here as he asks Sawako out like 3 different times. It’s my main problem with him. For the most part he’s a fun character and I do like that he’s trying to help but it goes too far when he actually tries to insert himself like that.

It makes you doubt all of the previous advice and if he was actually trying to help her or just intentionally trying to cause misunderstandings. So like 95% of his scenes are good for the character but the remaining ones hurt. I think he’s an interesting figure that does add a lot to the mix though. I like the idea of a character who wants to play cupid for everyone while avoiding a relationship of his own but you know that this can’t last. Inevitably he will be paired up with someone and then that will be the end of his big character arc. He’s a meddler right now but at least one you could make a decent case for. The guy does lose objectivity when it comes to Sawako though. Pretty crazy that the series only really had one big new character right? Just goes to show that this series doesn’t need to inflate the cast.

As for the technical aspects, the soundtrack is good. There’s one theme that I always tend to enjoy and while the soundtrack isn’t large, it tends to fit the scene well enough. The opening never really caught on for me though. Even romantic shows can afford to have a more fast paced beat if you ask me. Throw in some fun instruments and a lot of energy. Then I will be game 100%. The animation is a noticeable step up from the first season though. The first season had so many scenes where all the details were missing while this one is fairly consistent. It’s still not a top tier show or anything like that but when the improvement is noticeable like this it does jump another level. Particularly after seeing both seasons almost back to back it stands out.

Overall, This second season may not have been quite as pleasant as the first but it’s still a good show. I had a good time either way and compared to other titles it is still rather tame with the drama. One thing I can always be grateful about is that none of the characters did anything irredeemable or major while they were upset. They didn’t say anything hurtful that would need apologizing for later on. The characters are always very mature here even when things are going badly and that’s why the writing in this show is really good. I would definitely say to check this one out and now we just gotta wait for that third season.

Overall 6/10

Blithe Spirit Review

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It’s time for a fairly wacky comedy film from back in the day. This one definitely goes crazy with the ghosts and all but the main character can be fairly annoying. The ending is funny but I would say the film isn’t always able to keep up the momentum. I think it needed to either lean into the slapstick/surreal aspect of the film or have the main character take things a bit more seriously.

So the film starts off with Charles inviting a psychic over to hold one of those trance sessions. He doesn’t actually believe in this kind of stuff but he figures it’ll be good material for a book that he’s working on. After a long and boring sequence of chanting without much actually happening, Arcati leaves and things are back to normal. Charles’ wife Ruth had a good time at least but her day turns upside down when Charles’ ex wife Elvira shows up from the dead. It looks like the seance actually worked and Elvira does not want to leave now. She wants Charles to be all hers and the annoying pat is that he loves the attention. So Ruth has to try and destroy Elvira once and for all.

Destroying a ghost is a very difficult task. Depending on the universe where this is happening, it can be borderline impossible. Still, Ruth is very focused on this objective and even seeks out Arcati, but unfortunately the old lady doesn’t know what to do about this. It’s pretty tragic because she does have real abilities but she really doesn’t have any practical knowledge of the occult. Arcati is also one of the weakest parts of the film in general.

We get quite a few scenes of her trying different tricks and spells to remove Elvira but the problem is that each one takes way too long. Rather than be a fun gag, the film overplays its hand by a considerable amount. The scenes drag on and on and on for such a long period of time. I wouldn’t say that they were all that funny initially but by the end they are more on the unbearable side. That’s a bit dramatic but these scenes do keep the film from being higher.

Additionally I thought Charles was a very poor character. Look, for starters you shouldn’t go on the rebound. After his wife Elvira died, he should have just kept to himself and enjoyed life. This film is a great example of why that is. When she shows up again, he seems to still be in love with her to the point where he doesn’t mind making his current wife feel bad. He continues having in jokes with Elvira and generally being a pest whenever she wants to ask something. Ruth thinks he is crazy for a while because Charles explains things in the worst way possible.

He seems to constantly forget that Ruth can’t hear Elvira and just starts talking. After the second or third time you would think that the result would be patently obvious right? Well, I suppose it was obvious to everyone except Charles. Then even without all of that, he needs to remember that Ruth is his wife now. Sure, he can be polite and cordial to Elvira but not at the expense of Ruth. That’s where the film really trips up because you have absolutely no sympathy for the guy. It’s why the ending works very well at least.

As for Elvira, she’s not the nicest character anyway. She’s constantly insulting Charles. He must have been extremely attracted to her looks because otherwise she treats him like trash over and over again. The poor guy can never even stand up for himself, he’s just constantly being demolished. Also we find out that she cheated on him back in the day and apparently he did the same thing. So both characters are morally bankrupt. That’s just great…..

The only reasonable character here is Ruth. I appreciate that she is fighting hard for her man and trying to destroy Elvira. I feel like she is put through the most the whole time and really has to struggle to stay ahead. by the end she is fed up but that makes sense. If anything Charles really just didn’t deserve her the whole time particularly now that we know about his past. A good relationship needs trust and in this case that just wasn’t there. I do appreciate this film really emphasizing the important or avoiding the rebounds or things can get complicated.

At its best the film gives you some good laughs but it just doesn’t have as many comedic scenes as you would expect. The writing is good but the film is actually playing things rather straight instead of embracing how crazy it is. I don’t really understand the direction they were trying to take the film in. It’s a little too low key when this is a goldmine for different scenarios. Particularly since one scene showed that Elvira can actually make contact with the physical world. That sets up a ton of pranks and different things she can do which would have taken the battle to another level. The film would have to make sure it doesn’t get too mean spirited of course but it is absolutely possible all the way.

Overall, The Blithe Spirit is a film that had a good concept but the execution really missed the mark. I would say the biggest strike against it was certainly the long scenes with the witchcraft trying to defeat the spirits. Every time it would fail and the scenes were just too dragged out. The comedic shenanigans with the ghosts were the best part but the movie needed to commit more. Have them actually fight each other or something. If Charles had been a more likable main character then that would have helped out a whole lot. Instead there is nobody to root for here except for Ruth and there’s not a whole lot that she can do here. For now I would say to skip this one and wait for a better ghost film.

Overall 5/10

Finger of Guilt Review

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All right it’s time for a Noir title with pretty good atmosphere and an engaging plot. There is something that holds it back though and that’s the main character. He really didn’t handle things all that well here and really dug his own grave at times. That makes it so that the villain’s plan feels rather convenient as it just should not have worked at any point.

Reggie is a guy who wants to have a good Hollywood career but he has no self control. The guy got into a big fight and ended up losing his job the first time around because he was messing around and had an affair with his boss’s wife. Not a very smart move right? Then after that he finally got married to the daughter of another person he’s working for but at least this time that doesn’t mean he was cheating. The problem? Letters have started coming in from a lady who claims to have been going out with Reggie. He denies it but his wife is taking this very seriously and is worried at this point. Reggie has to set this straight but part of him wonders if maybe this is real and he just forgot.

So this is where the story loses me a little bit. Every time this kind of mystery happens, the main character starts to wonder if maybe he’s crazy. Maybe somehow he did have a secret relationship with someone and forgot about it. You can see how crazy that is right? These characters get gaslit so easily and it doesn’t make any sense. You know if you did or didn’t do something and there’s no way someone should ever be able to convince you otherwise. It’s just really convenient for the villains.

Meanwhile, Reggie looks awful once he goes to confront her. For starters he is immediately flustered and even goes as far as to try and hide the picture of him that was on her desk. This just made it very easy for her to walk in and point out to the wife that he hid it for some reason. Odd behavior if they’ve never met before right? Reggie walked into her traps constantly. Then the worst part was when he decided to make the rumors true by actually cheating on the wife with this lady.

I feel like the film really skims past this when it’s an extremely big moment. Literally he just gets drunk and decides to get together with her. Later on he said it’s because he wanted to test how far she would go if it was an act but that’s just an excuse. Of course she would go far because it just makes her story better and better. This guy really did not think things through and so later on when he’s upset and complaining about how he did nothing wrong….it’s not true because he did. This guy has no self respect or decency about him. It just ends up all being a big mess.

This is a Noir mystery and part of the fun is in seeing how things will play out so I won’t go too far into the twists but what I can say is that the villains are super lucky here. Their plan just shouldn’t work in any sane universe. Usually in a film like this you would have the mysterious lady blackmailing Reggie which is what gets him to respond but that doesn’t happen here. She never asks for money or anything and just sends him letters so that he can’t report this to the police. So all he had to do was tell the wife that the person sending letters is lying and that’s it. It only became suspicious initially because he decided to try and hide the letters instead of immediately telling his wife about them.

Then later on, all he had to do was say that the lady was crazy and move on. Instead he takes her out to a bar without telling the wife and she catches him. It’s crazy misunderstandings like this that happen time and time again in the movie. There’s always someone walking in at the perfect moment to hear something and then the situation gets worse. Once the mystery is unraveled and we get to the actual villain, Reggie has just been compromised too much by that point.

The actual main villain is also super petty and whiny. There’s nothing much to like about that character at all. This may be starting to sound rather negative but basically it’s just that the character cast is really weak. Fortunately a Noir mystery is about much more than the characters. The writing and tension means that this is still a good title, just be prepared to be rolling your eyes a whole lot throughout the movie. You just can’t feel bad for the main character at all.

Overall, Finger of Guilt is a good movie but Reggie really makes things too easy. I would argue that the villains’ plan was about as flimsy as it gets. It revolves around a ton of very convenient things happening and Reggie handling them all in the worst way possible. The writing is still good otherwise but the whole thing doesn’t feel very plausible. At least we do get a little action in the end as they manage to squeeze in a fight. I wasn’t really expecting that at such a late point in the game so it was a pretty interesting way to go. I feel like I spent most of the review talking about Reggie because he’s so awful but it’s also because the plot of the movie is very straight forward particularly when I’m not really talking about the twists. It’s him trying to figure out what’s going on while also going insane the whole time. I would have given him a sadder ending to wrap things up to be honest. Even though she was one of the villains, the mysterious lady was a lot more likable than the protagonist.

Overall 6/10

Kimi No Todoke: From Me to You Season 1 Review

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All right folks, it’s time for a classic romance anime. So the question here is, will it be one of those shows that survives in spite of the romance or will it be one with a high quality pairing? Fortunately it’s the latter and this show could teach a lot of it rivals a thing or two. Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura??? Out of the way, this is where quality romantic writing comes into play! The show manages to dodge a lot of the usual tropes and makes sure that the characters are really likable the whole time.

The show follows a girl named Sawako who is really softspoken. She’s fairly timid and doesn’t have any friends but she always tries to make a good impression. Sawako says good morning to everyone but people never really return her greetings and they even have a mean nickname for her: Sadako. Now I should say that for the most part the characters aren’t trying to be jerks, it just comes naturally because they’re super oblivious. But now she has finally made two friends in Ayane and Chizuru, plus the popular guy at school has actually noticed her. Things might be looking up for her but Sawako can’t let her guard down. All she’s ever wanted is a normal life and she won’t let it go!

Sawako hasn’t had the happiest childhood but she’s never let this get her down which I appreciate. Yes, she wasn’t exactly surrounded by friends but she has very supportive parents who were always good to her and she’s a glass half full kind of person. If there is some positive to be found then she will find it. Sawako’s never held a grudge against anyone and is quick to just say sorry and try to make things right. Part of her early character arc in the show is to speak up more to avoid any misunderstandings which is a good mindset to have. After that it’s about sorting out her feelings and being a little more outgoing.

I’d actually say that part’s not really a big change for her because again, she actually did try reaching out to the classmates and it just never worked out for a variety of reasons. Now she is able to do so with more confidence though. Because Sawako never had friends there are a lot of things that do go over head though which is part of the comedy here. She can misinterpret things and doesn’t always recognize an insult but she sticks up for her friends and is the happiest that she’s ever been. So the whole show is pretty wholesome and straight forward which can be a nice change of pace.

The main guy here is Kazahaya and he also surpasses expectations because he doesn’t fall for the usual traps. For example when the main villain Kurumi starts spreading rumors, he doesn’t take any of them seriously. When Sawako suggests putting some distance between them because she doesn’t want the rumors to hurt him, he just says that it’s nonsense. He stands up for her in class and makes sure people don’t go too far with the jokes. His most impressive moment is when Kurumi manipulates the situation so it looks like Sawako is hanging out with another guy and instead of sulking or running home, he just dashes over to her to ask her directly what’s going on.

Kazahaya is a very nice guy but he’s no pushover and is also direct when needed. He even admits on more than one occasion that he’s not the perfect guy Sawako thinks that he is. He’s got a short fuse and gets jealous easily but the fact that he controls himself so well all the time is a testament to his character. He’s a very well fleshed out characters with his own strengths and weaknesses. The guy’s humble but he does really excel the whole time.

Then we have a solid supporting cast here as well. First there is Ayane who is a strong contrast to Sawako. She’s not nearly as innocent in the art of romance and has a ton of real world experience. You can tell this will be a bigger plot point going forward because she doesn’t seem to be as cautious as she ought to be. She goes through a bad breakup in the show and keeps a strong face on but while everyone else is quick to cry or vent about their issues, she never really does. Internalizing is something that never really works out long term but I appreciate that she prioritizes her friends’ happiness so much. She is a good friend that you can count on.

She also really enjoys playing matchmaker so she always gives Sawako and Kazahaya a quick push when needed. Ayane is even the top bodyguard as she figures out Kurumi’s strategies and solidly puts an end to what’s going on. I don’t think the other characters were really prepared to handle this kind of mental warfare and so the situation would have just kept escalating otherwise.

Chizuru is Sawako’s other main friend and she’s a fun character as well. Tactics are not her strong suit but she is super emotional and expressive which always helps the group dynamic. She’s good at breaking the ice and is a very laidback character. She does get her mini arc in this season involving her first crush. Unfortunately for her there was a fairly big age gap and he already liked someone else but she doesn’t take it so well. Unlike Kazahaya and Sawako, she doesn’t communicate with Ryu nearly as well so they get a bunch of the usual misunderstandings.

It would have been annoying as the main pairing but as a side one it’s not quite as bad. As a whole the romance is significantly weaker than the main duo though so for now you hope it just stays as a friendship. After all, what’s better than having a good childhood friend right? It’s not like Ryuu’s ever asked her out or anything so as far as she’s concerned they are just good friends.

It’s why I put more of the pressure on Ryuu here. If you ask me, the person who is in love with the other one should always make the first move. I’d even say it should go both ways, the girl should ask the guy out if she likes him rather than waiting to be noticed which was Kurumi’s issue here. Nothing will happen if you’re just leaving it to destiny or something like that. Ryuu may be nervous about how things will play out but that’s when you have to look at the board and choose carefully. Imagine the worst case scenario and decide if the best case is worth it. Worst case: You lose the best friendship you’ve ever had. Best case: You’ve got a girlfriend now. So it just comes down to what is more worth it but you do have to make a choice at some point.

Ryuu’s whole character personality is that he’s the blunt type so this should be right up his alley. Well, romance dilemmas aside, he’s a solid character. Ryuu’s another nice guy who generally does the right things. He’s just not as outspoken as Kazahaya so he probably won’t be jumping into every situation. He won’t even notice most of them as he can be really oblivious at times.

There are a lot of other classmates running around as well but these are the main ones. One I will give a negative shoutout to is Joe though. He’s the definition of a super desperate guy who wants a girlfriend so badly that he’s always talking about it. Naturally nobody wants to be with him and it makes sense. He needs to have some dignity and then things will be looking up. That doesn’t mean he’s owed a relationship though, if it doesn’t happen then it doesn’t happen but a little more self respect never hurt anybody.

As the main villain of the show, Kurumi does a good job in the role. She pretends to be nice to everyone while secretly talking behind their backs and plotting their downfall. It’s a pretty realistic kind of villain for a school setting and we’ve all seen someone like this in the past. The key indicator is always if somebody gossips with you then you know they gossip about you as well. Kurumi is pretty slick to always be out of the limelight but she didn’t count on someone like Yano being around.

At the end of the day she tries these dirty tricks because she isn’t actually confident enough to ask out Kazahaya herself. There’s nobody to blame here though, it’s a skill issue pure and simple. It’ll take a lot for me to buy her as one of the good guys because she went really far with the rumors that she spread. She caused a lot of damage here and while it’s not surprising that Sawako would let that go really quickly, as a viewer I can’t really fall into the same boat.

Pin is the main teacher in the show and he’s a really fun side character. He’s one of the stronger comic relief characters and of course to put it mildly he is not a responsible grownup figure to root for. This guy is always over the top, putting students on the spot and ramps up the pressure when it’s time for the sport competitions. The reason this works though is every comedy show needs a hyper aggressive kind of character like this. Since he’s an adult he even dodges all of the romance drama although occasionally he will troll the characters a bit.

Yeah this guy’s a blast and the series just wouldn’t be the same without him. Meanwhile you have Sawako’s parents who are nice enough. It would be nice if the Dad was just a bit bolder though. He’s just so meek and constantly crying. It makes him a bit more one dimensional on the comedy scale. The Mom is fun enough though, she’s always around to support Sawako in all of her endeavors.

So we’ve got a pretty solid cast here overall. It’s not too big yet which works out well so you can focus on all of the characters individually. On an animation level the show can be fairly inconsistent. The character models aren’t always very detailed, they tend to change a lot from scene to scene and there are a bunch of moments where you can pause and have a good chuckle. That said, this is a comedy series so you’re not expecting a big budget production. That’s usually more the exception than the norm.

Additionally while I would say the show feels on the lower budget side, it can still have good shots. I think it does a good job with the chibi moments and Sawako has a very distinctive look to her chibi form. The show captures the art style fairly well there. The soundtrack is also fairly low key. I’m not a big fan of the opening but it’s okay. I’ve listened to it a bunch while writing the review and it still just doesn’t pop out at me. There’s a good dramatic theme that plays in the show but it’s basically the only one that I really remember.

So this is one show where the story has to carry it since the technical elements aren’t really doing much on their end. Fortunately the story is up to the task. There’s not much more to say here, it’s a well written show with good pacing and a lot of wholesome moments. I think it’s basically the kind of dream romance everyone thinks of when the subject comes up. It may seem a little too perfect at times but that’s part of the fun. If you want romance with tons of drama then there are countless titles to check out. Sometimes you just want a wholesome romance and this fits the bill. Not to say that there’s never any drama because that certainly comes up but it’s never anything significant or mean spirited. They are the kinds of problems that you could see coming up in real life as well and just talking through them. This show actually understands the power of proper communication.

Overall, I’d recommend checking out Kimi No Todoke. Of course it depends if this is your kind of show and you should be able to tell right away from the opening minutes if it will be. There are no big plot twists here. No sudden saving the world plot or big love triangles going on. It’s very directly a story about a guy and a girl each falling in love for the first time. No rebounds, Neither one of them is a delinquent, they didn’t have a dark childhood, nobody is deathly ill, etc. It’s just a quality romance and these are the reasons why it surpasses most. Sometimes you want to watch a show where everything just works out and the main couple get to share a bunch of great experiences instead of a bunch of traumas. The real test will be to see if future seasons can keep this up or if they will be too tempted to dump a bunch of trauma in.

Overall 7/10

Primrose Path Review

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Now when you see the score you may be thinking that’s pretty harsh. This isn’t a horror film or anything like that so what gives here? Well, the main problem is this movie really brings out the worst in all of the characters as far as the romantic context is concerned. I’ll dive into this in a moment but you just can’t picture there being a happy ending for anyone.

The movie introduces us to a family that is in a rather toxic situation. The father is a drunk who is out of a job and has basically given up on ever doing anything productive with his life. His wife goes off cheating on him constantly in order to bring home some money so they can have some food. The grandmother basically hates happiness and so she has a personal vendetta against everybody. The youngest daughter is incredibly spoiled and rude to everybody. Finally you have the eldest daughter who serves as the main character, Ellie. She has never really seen any guys who interested her and she does her best to help support the family by finding clams and such to eat. Unfortunately one day she is hit on by a guy who works at the local deli and he steals a kiss. She is now unable to focus on anything else and decides to emotionally blackmail him into marrying her through a web of lies and a false suicide attempt. How can this romance go wrong?

It’s hard to know where to start with this one but it’s clear from the jump that this romance is a bad one. Lets dive more into how she ropes Ed in. Basically Ellie pretends that she has been kicked out of the house by her family and will have nowhere to go if Ed doesn’t marry her. Additionally she acts as though she is doing to drown herself if he doesn’t go with her. It puts him in an extremely difficult position and the worst part is of course she lies to him about the family in general. As far as he knows they are all upstanding citizens but the problem is that everyone else knows the family’s true personalities and status.

This is inevitably going to blow up and Ellie shouldn’t have led off the way that she did. Yeah she probably would not have gotten him to marry her but if you have to force that into action then it’s not a true romance. Meanwhile Ed also does a lot of bad stuff here. For starters he is way too aggressive when he first meets Ellie. Taking a kiss was completely out of bounds and the same goes for taking her clams which forced her to accept his offer of a drive. The fact that she is so cautious about getting into another man’s vehicle is a good thing but here he is trying to tell her that she shouldn’t be so stuffy.

Additionally he doesn’t handle any of the twists very well either. One of the first things he does upon learning that she was lying is “Revenge Cheating” by going to the club and having an affair. If a guy goes that extreme so quickly then there is really no going back from that. Prior to that maybe both characters could talk things out but you can’t take back cheating. Once it happens then it’s all over. He also went and scratched her name off of the boat he was building and humiliated her in front of the whole club. Again you can’t really take these things back.

It leads to another cycle of revenge as Ellie goes out with another man to make Ed jealous and it becomes a whole scene. Basically when you have drama in a romance it can be fairly serious but you should never do something that is impossible to come back from. This film was just too mean spirited the whole time so that their making up by the end is incredibly unrealistic. You won’t believe it and none of the characters should in the slightest.

I was also expecting some kind of a redemption arc for the father but it never happened. That was surprising but I guess it goes to show that the family just isn’t going to change in the slightest. If anything I dare say that Ellie shouldn’t have returned in the first place. By the end she is definitely obligated to help but before that it was a clean split and one that I don’t think she needed to try and fix. Her decision to head over to the house at all was baffling because with all of the lies in place, did she really think that Ed wouldn’t have found something out? These weren’t small lies, they were big ones.

The whole lie of the family kicking her out for example. That is bound to come up during dinner as Ed would make sure that it did. So the writing here was a bit awkward. In general the writing could also be a bit repetitive but in part that’s due to the way Ellie and Ed talk to each other. It’s like they have to repeat each other’s line as a statement each time and so they don’t make a lot of progress sometimes. The film’s story can still be interesting but I found that it went way too far every time. I’d argue it should have just gone for the sad ending at that point since it already had the perfect setup for that. I prefer happy endings of course but you can’t just reverse on a dime and expect it to work.

Overall, Primrose Path is not a particularly good romance film. It’s not a particularly good film in general. It makes way too many mistakes the whole time and the characters are too far gone. The only likable character is the old man who helps Mary out when she needed a ride and is generally supportive the whole time. In fact I would say he was the only character who didn’t have a bunch of big flaws the way that the others did. He was someone you could count on. So yeah definitely skip this film and check something else out instead.

Overall 3/10

The Enchanted Cottage Review

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All right it’s time for a romance film that’s going for more of a wholesome feel. Unfortunately it does make some mistakes along the way like the romance being a rebound which always hurts its potential. It’s a fairly low key film and so it’s not bad or anything like that but it doesn’t succeed in nearly as much as it would have liked. It needed a bit of a rewrite in some areas to really take things to the next level.

The movie starts off with Oliver and his fiancé heading to a small college to prepare for their honey moon. This place is enchanted according to the legends and it should bring them happiness. The fiancé doesn’t love the place but she wants Oliver to be happy and accepts his decision to spend the duration of the trip there. The place is run by a nice old lady and a newcomer named Laura. Laura has had a tough time of thing in life because most people find her looks repulsive which makes everyone seem rather petty to be honest. They can’t just act nice at least? The film desperately wants you to think that Laura looks downright ugly but doesn’t do a particularly good job of it at all. The movie needed some special effects or something.

Well, the plans change when Oliver is called back into active duty. During one of the battles he is mildly scarred in the face and loses the use of one of his arms for a while. His fiancé and family try to console him but he’s too ashamed to see anyone and so he locks himself in the cottage. The only ones allowed to see him are Laura and the home owner. Eventually the fiancé gives up and the family leaves. Oliver then decides he still wants a wife so he goes after Laura and while she is thrilled to finally have a guy, part of her feels like she’s just the consolation prize. Does he actually like her?

So we have come to my biggest problem with the film. In my mind her fears are correct and he practically admits as such. He doesn’t want to be alone and with his scars, he figures that he can never attract all of the beautiful women that he once could. So Laura is basically the best that he can get and Laura really needed to have the strength of will to say no. That’s just really insulting to be honest and romance is something you should never settle for. You’re either first pick or you’re last. There’s no real in between there.

Yes the film does make the case that by the end he really likes her but it’s hard to see how this would have started in the first place. It’s a rather big piece to just shelve for a while isn’t it? Also you feel bad for the original fiancé because she was going to stay by his side. He’s the one who pushed her away and so she really got the short end of the stick here. They were engaged and everything so now she has to go back to square 1 to find herself another guy? That’s really gotta be rough.

The family don’t look great here. They mean well but definitely complain a lot and ultimately make things tougher on Oliver. It would have been nice if at least one of them could have been supportive though. Even if your kid ends up falling in love with someone that you don’t find to be attractive, there’s no reason why your kid should ever know that. Keep those thoughts to yourself and remember that beauty isn’t the only reason to get together with someone. That would be extremely shallow.

There is a supporting character here named John who is blind. That actually works well for Oliver since he doesn’t have to be embarrassed when they talk. They’re actually able to converse naturally and John is a very perceptive guy. He does his best to help during the film even if it doesn’t particularly go well. He’s a nice guy and was a good supporting character.

Finally we have the lead heroine Laura. As mentioned earlier, she has to go through a lot here. The film plays up how ugly everyone thinks she is to a rather crazy degree where men will even back up when they see her. They don’t want to get anywhere near her and so that makes for a super tragic part of the film. Particularly since she tries to avoid these scenarios as much as possible but is basically forced into it later on in the film. She seriously can’t catch a break and that really is sad. So you’re rooting for her but as the older lady mentioned, sometimes you just gotta stay alone. There’s nothing wrong with that and it’s better to be alone than to settle. At least that’s how I see it although I’m sure some would debate that.

The best thing about Laura’s character is that she really takes everything in stride. Sure, she does get upset and sad at times which is completely understandable but she doesn’t take it out on anyone else. Laura does her best to get right back on the saddle and help out around the cottage. That’s the trait of a good main character. The writing is good and the film goes back fast so I had no real technical issues here.

Overall, The Enchanted Cottage is a pleasant film on the surface but I thought the romance was really weak which does end up hurting the rest of the experience. It should have made Oliver less of a jerk the whole time. I actually think they should have made it so that the fiancé and family were treating him poorly. So he got to experience what Laura had to go through all those years and that would have been a great way to link them together. At that point it’s not like he settled for her but that he grew to love her because of how she stayed strong despite all of the trauma. Maybe they could work that in for a reboot. In the meantime you could definitely do better than this film.

Overall 5/10

Woman in Hiding Review

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It’s time for an old noir thriller. I felt like this one was a bit weaker than the average Noir title thanks to the main character in a lot of ways although it’s not like the main villain was all that great either. So it’s a team effort there but at the same time it is still a good movie which is the important part. There’s enough to enjoy here without issues and it will keep your attention.

The film starts off with Deborah deciding that she is through with Selden. The guy basically never comes by to see her. It’s apparently been over 6 months since he effectively ghosted her so she’s going to move to New York. Selden makes some weak excuses but she won’t have any of them. She knows deep in her heart that she has made the right move and settling for this guy would be doing herself a disservice. Her father has everything set up and so she goes home to get ready to pack. Unfortunately Selden runs in later on and explains that her father tripped and died in a crazy accident. He’s also back in love with her so she quickly marries him. Unfortunately this was part of his plan and now he owns the mill.

He threatens her to not leave him or try anything or he will take her down for good. So Deborah waits until night fall to make a break for it but gets into a sabotaged car and crashes. This does allow her to fake her own death but Selden is too prepared and stays on her tail. Surely switching states and names would be enough right? Well she meets another guy that she falls for and what she doesn’t know is that there’s a reward out for her. Uh oh……

So as you can probably guess I have quite a few issues with Deborah in particular here. She just seems way too easy which how she falls for these men. In fact the entire plan only works because she’s always falling in love so easily. (Which as we know when you fall in love too easily then the feelings aren’t all that deep) I don’t get how she let herself marry Selden after it was clear that he didn’t care about her the first time. I won’t fault her for not realizing that he murdered her father since that’s a lot more obvious for the viewer than the character but what she should have definitely realizes was that he just wanted to run the company and she was a means to an end. The fact that she never even suspected that makes her look absolutely terrible.

It took actual proof in front of her face that he was cheating on her for her to finally see the light. Then, in the days before internet you’d think it would be easy to stay out of hi gaze once you’re out of town right? Well it could have been easy if she had kept to herself and not taken chances but starting to like another guy? Cmonnnnnnnn, it just shouldn’t work that fast. She falls into every trap and just makes this adventure a whole lot harder than it needs to be.

I didn’t even like the second guy either. So Keith is someone who just wants to have a good time and he likes her but the guy isn’t the best at listening. Deborah basically spells out the situation to him but he chooses to sell her out anyway. I have to imagine that deep down part of it was for the money but either way it’s a bad look because she had warned him several times that she was being pursued and was obviously terrified. Somehow he took that in the other way to mean that she actually was crazy and the guy over the phone was the one who could be trusted.

He put her in so much danger that I don’t care how sorry he was about it afterwards, there’s no way I can picture her staying with him after that. You’d think that she would be completely traumatized at that point and would prefer sticking it out on her own. Meanwhile the main villain wasn’t the smartest either. He could have handled the situation with Patricia so much better if he wanted to keep the company. Additionally if he wanted to stop Deborah in the opening scene there were much better ways to do it than sabotaging a car and hoping that she didn’t survive. There are so many ways that the plan could have backfired even outside of the way that it backfired in this plan. The guy just wasn’t smart.

Speaking of characters making mistakes, we’ve also got Patricia who makes a lot of mistakes. So Selden nearly murders her in the opening scene and ditched her for money immediately yet she continues to like him for no real reason. It’s clear that he is just using her and that he’s insane but later she tries to act shocked about it. There’s no way you can believe her and I don’t see how she can even believe herself. It just makes her look even worse. If you’re going to be a backstabbing villain then you have to own that but trying to play it both ways and gain some sympathy will never work.

So in the end, what keeps this from being a stronger Noir title is that I didn’t really like any of the characters. They were all really annoying the whole time and kept on holding each other back. Deborah should have escaped easily once she made it out of the car, Selden never should have let it get to that point, Keith never should have sold her out, and Patricia should have never thought that she could trust Selden. They all kept on making mistake after mistake which was annoying but at least the core story was still engaging. This is a thriller that keeps you wondering what will happen next especially sine it’s hard to guess what the characters will mess up next.

Overall, If this sounds like your cup of tea then you should check it out. There’s always room for more thrillers out there right? If this sounds like it might be a bit of a slog, then it’s time to shift gears back onto a more iconic one. At the very least this film will remind you that if you intent to hide or fake your death then you need to really stay out of the limelight entirely. That absolutely means no falling in love for a while I’m afraid.

Overall 6/10

Pickup Review

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It’s time for a film where the main character is such a sucker that you almost don’t feel bad for him. Yeah of course I still feel a little bad for the guy but he really didn’t do anything to help himself out. When you get too desperate you start to walk into all kinds of traps and that’s exactly what happened here.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Horak who is a nice enough guy but he’s feeling lonely lately. He lost his wife 2 years ago and lost his dog recently. His friend the Professor advises him to get a new dog so Horak looks around but then he is effortlessly seduced by a local girl named Betty who is low on cash and wants a free meal. He pays for all of her food/drink and then heads back home. The problem is now that he’s been with someone else again, he doesn’t want to go back to being alone. No…he can’t be alone! So he quickly marries her but then loses his hearing. He quickly regains it but pretends that it is still gone and realizes that Betty never really loved him. She just wants his money and may be preparing to murder him. What can Horak do about this?

Now I went a little fast towards the end there so lets break this down a bit. The reason why I am not too sympathetic to Horak’s cause is because Betty is not subtle at all. From the start she treats him like trash, insults his house, and generally insults him as a person all of the time. He seems to barely notice because he is so in love with her. Cmon that’s just an awful look. I feel like he has selective hearing at times because she’ll be hurling insults and he half heartedly starts talking about coffee and heads off.

You have to assume she’s not even great at being a scammer because of how she can’t keep the facade of being a nice person up for even 10 minutes. She’s just lucky that he is so desperate. That desperation is what makes him a really poor character. He doesn’t even realize that Betty doesn’t like his friend and so the guy he’s been hanging out with forever doesn’t drop by the house as much anymore. You don’t just ditch a close friend like that.

Most of the thriller aspects are from the second half where he starts to finally see how dangerous she is. The film has a massive plot hole here though. So the characters know that he is super hard of hearing so they can have normal conversations around him but have to yell to get him to hear them. Okay so that’s fine but at one point they want to test him and see if Horak can actually hear or if he’s faking. So Betty yells in his ear and Horak doesn’t react. They’re satisfied but they shouldn’t be. The whole point is that he can hear when the voice is loud enough so why would he not hear a scream at all? He actually should have reacted and their plan should have been different.

Yeah so Horak is really a bad character here. He lets Betty get away with way too much and clearly has no self respect. You can’t just accept being treated so poorly like that, it sets an awful precedent. Meanwhile Betty is a full antagonist the whole time. At first you figure that maybe she’s going to have a bit of a character arc or she’s getting through some things but nah she was just bad from the start. She even has quite the reputation about this which everyone knows about…except for Horak of course. She actually gets off real easy by the end of the film and probably wins off screen due to Horak not properly ending things off when he had the chance.

Then there’s Steve who is a really bad character. The guy is openly cheating the whole time which is already awful in itself. Then there’s the fact that he lets Betty seduce him even while he sees her seducing Horak. He figures that he’s the exception somehow and that she actually likes him but how gullible do you have to be? It’s obvious that he is the next victim in her quest and yet he allows himself to be manipulated with no resistance. By the end of the film he even starts drinking and loses control of himself. The guy’s a villain just like her and he gets off just as easily.

This is really where the film loses a point for me. It’s an interesting title to be sure but the film has a really unsatisfying ending. It’s sort of a let everyone go their own ways kind of ending but it doesn’t work when you have antagonists like this running around. You want them to go to jail or something. Instead they’re free to mess someone else up down the line. Yeah I put Steve in the same boat as Betty because you don’t go as far as he did by just making a mistake. He’s a crook same as her.

At least the Professor was a nice character the whole time but his role is surprisingly small to the point where you could cut him out and nothing really changes. I wonder if he was originally meant to have a bigger role or something because it will just leave you a bit confused as to why he’s here.

Well the writing is good and the pacing is on point so the film succeeds where it counts. The character cast is fairly small so they all get a lot to do. Horak is just a really annoying main character. Maybe that’s why the ending is unsatisfying since the writers didn’t want to give him a big win either. I can understand that but then have them all get sent to jail or something. Make up some crime that they all get framed for.

Overall, This is a good film to serve as a reminder to never let yourself get too desperate. If a situation seems too good to be true then you should look into it. Don’t settle for love either, if you find someone who is settling for you then that’s not a relationship you want to be in. As the cliche goes, you gotta know your worth. At the end of the day even if it means being alone, you need to keep your respect. Horak saved up his whole life and nearly lost it all for trying to rush things. This kind of story is taken to the extreme in a movie like this but plenty of people make this mistake in real life as well. It’s not the best Noir title out there by far but it does more right than it does wrong and will keep you engaged the whole way through.

Overall 6/10