Living Out Loud VHS DVD

The previews show that this is a movie about a woman whose husband dumps her.  She ends up noticing the new doorman at her building and they share their thoughts on life.   But that doesn't really cover the plot very well.  It isn't the standard Hollywierd romantic comedy where two very different people find they can fall for each other.  Instead, this is a movie about two lonely, but very different people who end up noticing each other and spending some time together for awhile.

The movie tries to do an Ally McBeel, where they show a stream-of-conciousness scene that's all in a character's head.  It's intersting, but it doesn't work as well as in Ally.  The style isn't nearly as overboard as Ally.  And while the movie has some comedy in it, it's not a really a comedy.  Also, there are a couple of points where you're not sure whether you're looking at "reality" or a daydream sequence.  More than once, I was waiting for the cut to show us this was a daydream, and it didn't come.  That caused me some confusion.

Maybe I'm just dense, but I had trouble early in this movie because I didn't understand the characters very well.  While I don't like movies playing down to the lowest common denominator, I think I needed the characters fleshed out a little more at the beginning.

Devito's character in particular.  We learn about him as the movie goes along.   Every time something new was revealed, it looked like he was a hustler/get-rich-quick person.  Eventually, it becomes clear that he's a pretty straight shooter, but complicated.  Apparently a bit too complicated for the screen time spent to develop the character.

Hunter's role is pretty straightforward to start.  But it really felt like there was a lot left out.  Especially in her relationship with the other main characters.   It's almost as if there's a 15 minute scene missing about 1/3 of the way into the movie.

On my brother's Total Movie Value Scale, Pay Per View with Dinner.  A bit odd.  I admire it for dodging the Hollywierd ending.

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