Sundance 2011 Review: I MELT WITH YOU with Thomas Jane, Jeremy Piven & Rob Lowe
I seriously just want to write this review just to get this movie out of my head and not have to think about it anymore. I did not like I Melt With You at all, the movie is completely pointless, and does nothing rewarding for the audience. The film doesn’t have one single gratifying moment, and there is absolutely nothing redeemable about the story or any of the characters. What a waste of time money and talent.
I hated the way this movie made me feel, it was like taking a horrifically bad bus trip down through the seven levels of hell. The movie depressed the hell into me and made me feel like shit. Why in the hell would anyone want to go to a movie that makes them feel like shit? I guess if that’s your thing then yeah, you’ll probably like it.
The film follows four friends who have been getting together once every year since college, to hang out and catch up with each other by doing massive amount of drugs, getting gutter-trashed drunk and engaging in all kinds of sexual activity. Richard (Thomas Jane), Ron (Jeremy Piven), Tim (Christian McKay), and Jonathan (Rob Lowe) are seemingly normal men with careers and families, but they have tortured souls. Turns out most of these guys are just stupid-ass dirtbags. Their latest trip takes them down a road of utter and senseless stupidity, and they’re comes that moment where they are forced to face down their demons look deep into their souls and make a choice.
This movie is completely childish, the four main characters are immature, lack any kind of common sense and are flat out idiots that deserves the pain and suffering they are going through because they put themselves through it! It was no one else falut but their own. The Sundance description of the film says that it’s a “riveting and emotionally raw story that puts the modern male psyche under the knife, opening it up and exposing it for what it is... What emerges is a visually dazzling, sonically charged exploration of men on the brink of enlightenment... whether they want it or not.” I completely disagree with this statement. There’s no exposing the modern male psyche for what it is, and there certainly is not any brink of enlightenment! In fact, the right word should be destruction. When the hell was there any kind of enlightening moment in the movie? Oh, that’s right... there wasn’t!
I Melt With You was written and directed by Mark Pellington. The direction of the film and stylization was fine. I also thought that the acting was great, but damn... the movie was just so freakin’ dismal. It left an extremely bad taste in my mouth. I hated the films story, but had there been any kind of redeeming moment, the movie might have been watchable, but there was nothing redeeming! You'ld think with such an awesome cast this movie should be watchable, well... it's not.
I can’t recommend to you enough to stay as far away from this film as possible when it gets released. It’s not worth your time or money. The movie is just two hours of depressing nonsense.
Here’s the official synopsis for the film:
Richard (Thomas Jane), Ron (Jeremy Piven), Tim (Christian McKay), and Jonathan (Rob Lowe) are friends from college who gather for a weekend each year to celebrate their friendship and catch up with each other. On the surface, they look like other men going through life: they have careers and families and responsibilities. But as with many people, there is more to them than meets the eye. As the weekend progresses, they go down the rabbit hole of excess. Fueled by sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll, their bacchanalian reunion drives them to an unexpected place where they are forced to confront themselves and the choices they’ve made.