An Exercise In Nonsense

A lot of fun.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Paul (Christopher Gorham) is a doctoral student at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Naturally, this is admirable as the school's reputation is very fine. Unfortunately, Paul has big shoes to fill, for his father is one of the most beloved professors on campus. But, Paul is having great difficulty finishing his dissertation, probably because of his need to "measure up". To blow off steam, Paul makes the rounds of trivia contests held at local bars with his friend, James (Nelson Franklin), a college test adviser. Since this activity is far more than a passing interest, it pushes his academic goals even farther away. Then, another complication arrives. Paul's world is shaken when a beautiful freshman student, Naomi (Arielle Kebbel) is a pupil in Paul's study lab. Bright and unconventional, she opens up a world that Paul hasn't experienced, one beyond the outskirts of Ann Arbor. But, as pressure mounts for Paul to finish his degree, be a local trivia champion, and win Naomi's heart, something's gotta give. What? This is a fine film, with an unusual story of academia most viewers won't know. It has many solid discussion points, from religion to family ties to cloistered environments. Gorham, Franklin, and Kebbel are wonderful in their respective roles, as are the lesser cast members. Then, too, Ann Arbor is tailor-made for a nice setting while the challenging script and direction are quite fine as well. Will it play beyond Ann Arbor? I hope so, for it has many genuine assets in the art of film-making.

I was fortunate enough to attend the world premiere screening of Answer This! at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor last October, and since then I have been waiting for the film to be picked up for wider distribution. Wrekin Hill Entertainment has picked up Answer This!, and to celebrate that, there was another red carpet premiere screening at the Emagine Royal Oak this past Thursday, October 13. I was interested in seeing if the distributors had made any changes to the movie, and if they had, they are little; however, the movie was just as good as I remembered it.

"Answer This! is a modern comedy with a great cast. The acting is uniformly good. I've never heard of this Director before, but I'm sure we're going to hear and see a lot more work from him. The quality of the editing and photography is excellent. Having not heard anything about this film, I walked in not knowing what to expect. Someone should think about changing the Film's Poster because it doesn't project what this film is about. Some clever person will figure this out and "package" this film, and then, a studio will make a lot of money. I'm looking forward to see the next film this director makes. I'm sure we will see much more of the cast. Take my advice and see this film.

The movie was good, not great, but good. Arielle was a definite standout, as was Evan Jones as Ice. I would have liked to have seen more of Parnell and Ralph Williams. Gorham's performance was good as always, but I still had a hard time liking Paul all that much. It didn't help that this 30-year-old T.A. was playing footsie with his 18-year-old student. That said, the love scene was the best I've seen in a movie in years, the juxtaposition of romance and biblical text was very effective. But any sort of enjoyment you have of their relationship is pretty much killed during the library scene when even I wanted to smack him (Which I'm sure was the desired effect). When he gets his comeuppance from her, it's pretty well-deserved.I've heard varying reports as to whether what they showed was a rough cut or the final product. Considering they have more screenings and won't be hitting the festival circuit till next year I would bet there will be more edits to come.The film is definitely a visual love letter to the town of Ann Arbor, and seeing it in its home was a special treat. I love when a town becomes not just a backdrop but a character in the movie, as the Farahs have done with it here.