Purely Joyful Movie!

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

As Good As It Gets

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

I was pleasantly surprised by this film. I don't know much about Matthew Settle's work, but he was perfectly cast as the dumped boyfriend that didn't want to accept that things were over with his blond, eye candy ex-girlfriend, Liz, played fetchingly by Gretchen Mol who had me going until the very end when she revealed her true colors. Settle does most of his acting with his eyes, and has that look of being really handsome, yet slightly wounded. I found myself feeling sorry for him, yet afraid of him. Settle played his character just right, struggling to maintain control, but very, very hurt. The character of Garrett had me fooled to the very end as well, with his sincerity in trying to talk to Matthew as a friend, while helping the seemingly fragile Liz with her fears. The only honest character seemed to be Corey, played by Samantha Mathis. Samantha Mathis played her character as very ambivalent, hesitant, and lacking in confidence, and self esteem. But Corey was a loyal person. What I liked most about the film was the subtlety of the acting, which made the chain of events seem to evolve naturally to the point of eventual escalation. Nobody knew what anybody else was actually doing, only what they appeared to be doing. All the characters had secret motivations, with the exception of Corey who just wanted to be liked by all. In the end, Matthew realized he had been too obsessed to see things clearly. Garret's switch flipped. Liz turned out to be a gamer. And Corey found some much needed self respect. Never did figure out who was interviewing Matthew. But I liked what he was saying, because it gave insight into who he was all along...a sensitive, decent guy. And the film left me wondering if he got back together with Liz or Corey? Hmmm. I vote Corey.

Radio talk show advisor finds himself obsessed with his ex girlfriend, stalks her and then begins to see one of her friends, to make her jealous. (?) Meanwhile his friend and co worker becomes involved with the ex and complications arise from their respective jealousies and compulsive behavior.Smoothly done and fast paced with a good cast headed by Settle.Worth renting.

I just watched this movie on HBO last night and came away from it sorely disappointed. "Attraction" is proof-positive that good movie-making cannot start without good writing. I think I can safely say without spoiling the story that `Attraction's' story line is entirely focused on delivering `surprising' plot twists. Unfortunately, these twists and turns only come as non-sequiturs, because the character development (non existent), plot (if you can call it that) and dialogue (embarrassing) do *NOTHING* to support the `twists' that are supposed to surprise (rather than confuse) the viewer. Ham-fisted doesn't even begin to describe the ensuing on-screen mess. Furthermore, the characters are so bland and come off as so many cookie-cutter, self-absorbed Gen-Xers that the viewer is left with no one to identify with, or any character to anchor what takes place on screen. In the end, `Attraction' comes off as two hours documenting meaningless characters as they behave in completely random fashion.

Perhaps first time director Russell DeGrazier will turn into something one day, but it's not going to be on the basis of this movie. Decent actors, but overall an uninvolving script with characters that I didn't care a fig about. The abrupt ending is blessed relief from the boredom.