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Best movie of this year hands down!

Very well executed

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

From many comments about this film and the similar Closer, one would think all the characters were reckless libertine hedonists. They're not, they're unsuccessful serial monogamists like most of us in the modern western world. This one doesn't have the Oscar Wilde/Noel Coward wit or shocking vulgarity of Closer, but it does have amazing true-to-life performances, especially from Petra Wright (who has an aristocratic beauty similar to Mimi Rogers in Someone to Watch Over Me), Kathleen Robertson, who previously had a field day as an innocent bigamist in Gregg Araki's Splendor, Maya Strange (not Strange), who displays a vulnerability much like Natasha Gregson Wagner in some other independent films (what happened to her?). And of course Mark Ruffalo, an undecided everyman for our times, like the dog in Aesop who loses his bone because he thinks he sees a better one. And as someone remarked, this is definitely Eric Rohmer territory. Excellent writing, cinematography, and use of music, and not one redundant line or wasted shot.

Austin Chick's movie starts with a great shimmer, gruff Ruffalo follows an enigmatic prey in the shape of Maya Strange home, hand-held camera as much as a voyeur as he is. What emerges is a College frat party where Ruffalo rolls around with Maya and her best girl pal Kathleen Robertson who have a greater understanding of sexual sharing than Ruffalo.Despite Ruffalo's obvious attraction to Maya, though more than willing to fool around with both, when the film fast forward's to a decade later, Ruffalo is shacked up with clean and sensible Claire in a subtle performance by Petra Wright From now, the film falls as flat as Ruffalo's new nerdy haircut. What exactly happened in those 10 years? It's in there somewhere but suddenly we're watching a completely different, slower, duller film that we no longer care about. The inevitable reappearance of one of the college girls is no surprise (nor a surprise as to who it is) and the artificial denouement leads to further disappointment. A huge anti-climax.

Please have mercy on us. Another newbie, would-be writer-director, possibly just out of film school, dumps another one of these on us.Lord love a duck. But not a turkey. Pa-leeeeze!!!!!! It seems like the massive hoard of wanna-bees graduating in mass from film schools in every state and small town think that they have to do a meaningful film about the human condition, which to them obviously means the romantic and sexual and relationship trials and tribulations and complications of, of course, themselves.Apparently, they just don't realize that nobody cares about this except . . . themselves. Those younger than 20-something couldn't care less, and those older than that have already been through it and don't really care to watch for an hour and a half or more some newbie film school grad's self-absorbed, personal version of it. Even most other 20-somethings are yawning and watching other films that are professional and fun.Oh, well, if you like it, you like it. I don't. I find it to be another example of why recent film schools grads seem to be able to do nothing else except something self-absorbed like this. Try getting some real life experience before attempting to make films for anyone except yourself. The fact that one of the characters is a wanna-bee film writer/filmmaker shows you the extremely limited range of life experience of the would-be writer/director of this self-absorbed and boring-to-anyone-else 20-something project.Just another one on the massive pile. Should we just shoot these egotistical children constantly graduating from film school with nothing but fame and fortune and pretension in their limited imaginations? Or should we just wait until mommy and daddy's patience and/or money runs out and they end up in a tiny cubicle in an office, under constant stress, and continually whining and unhappy, 40 hours a week for the rest of their pompous lives? Oh, well, I won't worry about it. When mommy and daddy's money or patience runs out, reality will hit them in the head. Then, after years of struggling and suffering and hopelessness, maybe, just maybe, they'll finally have something to write about and film. But even then, they still might not have any talent.Gawd, but this was boring. Boring story, boring characters, and poorly executed. And totally self-absorbed. Get years and years of life experience before you try again. Please. But you will still need talent, and I didn't see any here.Sorry. For everyone involved in this supposed film and for everyone who tried to watch it. There are so many good films in the archives, and more added each year, that I don't recommend bothering to watch this one, unless you are this kid's parents. And then I highly recommend it, so that they will know to immediately cut this kid's free money off, so that he will be forced to get a job and deal with real life.1 out of 10, and only because the actors tried real hard to produce their horrible acting. 0 out of 10 for the writing and directing. And I've worked in the film business for years, and the TV and the music industries, too. But even just as a film consumer, it was horrible. The one reason that it is of any note at all is as a classic example of the phenomenon of recent film school graduate self-absorption and pretension to fame and fortune and talent.

One of the refreshing things that this script has to offer is the depiction of it's characters without hiding their faults and allowing them to act and speak as real people would. Story starts out in 1993 where a young aspiring filmmaker and animator named Coles (Mark Ruffalo) meets Sam (Maya Strange) while at a party and they engage in a very clumsy menage a trois with Sam's roommate Thea (Kathleen Robertson) but it doesn't go very well. The three of them remain close and Coles and Sam start a very passionate relationship but after time passes things get rocky when Coles admits to sleeping with another woman and then after a party getting it on with Thea!*****SPOILER ALERT***** Ten years later Coles is living in Manhattan with Claire (Petra Wright) and working in commercials but one day he bumps into Sam and after talking some they agree to get together with Thea and catch up on things. Thea is married to a restaurant owner named Nick (Zach Shaffer) and very happy and while all of them are having dinner it's obvious that Coles has never stopped being in love and while Sam has feelings similar to his it's unknown to everyone that Claire knows what is going on between them.This film was written and directed by newcomer Austin Chick who is making his debut and his script remains sharp throughout the films duration and gives the viewer characters that are flawed but believable. The script never gives us unreal situations and the scene early in the film of the three of them experimenting with a menage a trois illustrates this by having the character Sam flee after knowing that this is not what she wants. A film that was just trying to sell tickets would have given a more erotic scenario with everyone involved having a good time. This film stays true with it's characters and they're realistic reactions to certain events. For me the strongest scene in the film involves the character Claire confronting Coles after he starts talking of marriage and she tells him that she knows precisely what is going on. It's a well written scene delivered very strongly and accurately by Wright who makes a nice little impact in the film. This film doesn't have any real thought provoking idea's to share but it does possess a script that is both refreshing and humanly accurate in the way it deals with it's characters.