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Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

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

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

First, this was a terribly directed and cast remake of "A Human Comedy" which did not need a remake unless it was going to be impeccable. Too many things wrong, lots and lots. This was wrong from the outset, the Telegraph office was incorrect as there were not any metal door/ window framing on buildings of that nature in the 1940's. And it just goes down hill from there. Sad about the direction. Too bad about the casting. It was a little like scratching fingernails on a chalkboard. I could not finish this movie. So save your money and time.

"Okay, the faster you deliver messages, the more you can deliver. The faster you pick up outgoing messages, the more we can send. The more we can send, the better our chances of beating western union and staying alive. We're postal telegraph. We get there swiftly. We're polite to everyone. We take off our hats in elevators and above all things, we never lose a telegram.""Wow!" I thought for a minute. A drama with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks demonstrating their skills once more. Is it a sequel to the masterful romantic comedy "You've got mail"? Well, it's about sending messages for sure. But Tom Hanks won't send a lot of messages anymore. Or he's sending them from the afterlife. It's the era before the internet even existed. These were the happy days without spam or ransom-ware. But to deliver the telegram within an acceptable time frame, the telegraph services needed young boys who could ride a bike swiftly enough. And since "Ithaca" is situated during the 2nd World War, with lots of American boys fighting on the European continent, it's no surprise most of the messages brought no good news.And that's something Homer Macauley (Alex Neustaedter) is facing. He's betting his life on being the fastest courier on bike ever. Despite the fact that he's racing back and forth like a kind of Cavendish the whole movie, the film on its own is rather slow. Biggest surprise was the rather limited contribution by Tom Hanks. Was he doing Meg Ryan (debuting here as a director) a favor? Or was it just to stir up the former movie chemistry? In contrast, the film was hugely predictable. I could guess early on in the film which fate Homer was quickly sprinting towards. I know it wasn't the intention to create a mysterious puzzle. But I was hoping for a little surprise. Ultimately, it's once again about fear and hope. Left behind families waiting for some news from their sons who are sent to war. And this combined with the story about a boy, who's confronted with the less pleasant events in life, while delivering these messages.Because of the short playing time, Meg Ryan failed to unravel the fragile personality of Homer in an orderly manner. His leap to adulthood is fairly abruptly after the death of his father and the departure of his older brother. A brother who writes terribly long letters while on his way to the front, in such a prosaic writing style that it seems as if he wants to win a Pulitzer prize. The occasional reading of excerpts from these letters probably was meant to bring drama into the film. Eventually, I thought it was quite disturbing. A short playing time with a variety of story lines results in unfinished and "fast dealt with" pieces. The loss of a father figure, the responsibility as the eldest son, dutifully performing a job as a courier, the disastrous reports, war scenes, the drama of an old telegraph operator and a mother who occasionally experiences "Sixth Sense" situations. And then there are a few minor (but briefly quoted) secondary plots. It's all a bit too much.The acting isn't really bad. But it seems like everyone is groping in the dark about his character. Especially Homer's boss Tom Spangler (Hamish Linklater) is such a blurred figure. We can be brief about Ryan and Hanks. As brief as their actual playing time. It's negligible. I only enjoyed the performances of Alex Neustaedter (obvious of course), Sam "Midnight Special" Shepard and the cute Ulysses (Spencer Howell) whose cuddle factor is very high. Especially Shepard makes a momentary impression. A brilliant and intriguing character. Eventually this coming of age story during the war makes a fairly comatose impression. It isn't really vivid.More reviews here : http://bit.ly/1KIdQMT

"I don't know what's ahead, but whatever it is I am humbly ready for it." Homer Macauley (Neustaedter) has just watched his brother go off to fight in WWII and wants to do anything he can to help. He decides the best way for him to help his family is to get a job. He decides to become a bicycle telegraph messenger, and sets out to be the best and fastest one anyone has ever seen. Soon after he begins he is given a message that changes everything, and his job becomes more important than he ever imagined. This is a movie that I am very torn about. On one hand the movie has tremendous heart and leaves you hoping the movie won't end the way you expect it to. The acting is great and this is a very good character study of how the war affected the relatives stateside. On the other hand, you have a prediction on how the movie will end and you are just waiting for it to come to fruition. The fact that you think this way distracts you from the movie and the emotion of every other aspect seems to be lost and glossed over. I didn't think the movie was that bad and it is worth seeing, but about a year ago a movie called Little Boy came out and that was far better than this one. Overall, a good movie that is worth seeing, but you spend the entire time waiting for one thing to happen and it ultimately distracts you from the rest of the movie. I give this a B-.

Tom Hanks is a good actor. Meg Ryan is a good actress. They've had chemistry in the past. It ain't here for this movie.First off, this is not a Tom Hanks movie. He has top billing, but he is on screen for maybe two minutes. Second, this was Meg Ryan's directorial debut. It's a dog, and I don't have high expectations for her continued career as a director.The story is completely disjointed and really doesn't have any kind of plot to speak of, other than a teenager being all angsty.Save your money, folks. Don't rent this movie and don't waste 90 minutes of your life watching it.