Ok if you have read a few reviews you already know the basic plot. Charlie Darby (Matt LeBlanc) is an elementary school principal with a troubled romantic history. His best friend Jason Kerwick has a perfect family. Charlie
decides to only date women he doesn't care about. He meets fellow heartbroken Molly Kingston (Ali Larter) who has a nephew at his school.
I wanted to give this movie at least a 9 for the chemistry and sweetness of this couple falling in love. And for addressing the sensitive issue of addressing love and jealously and people with social connection issues.
Unfortunately this movie tried to play both a dark comedy and a sweet romantic comedy. It is. almost like they were trying to recreate Silver Linings Playbook. But the writer of this story did not know enough about psychology to back up the story.
There is a paper you can read online LOVE AND PSYCHOSIS. WHY DOES LOVE MAKE US CRAZY? http://www.psychoterapiaptp.pl/uploads/PT_2_2015/ENGverProt-KlingerPsychoterapia2_2015.pdf that addresses similar issues that this movie barely addresses.
Had the writer done a little research and read papers like this and perhaps hired a consultant to look over the final script then perhaps this movie would have been compared to well made movies like Silver Linings Playbook. .
A movie like that which addressed the serious issues Love and it's relation to Psychosis could have been something worthy of awards.
Instead what we get is a movie that tries to both jokingly compare love and going crazy... while at the same time trying to address the issues involved without treating the issues with the seriousness they deserve. You do get to see inside someones head who is delusional and you do feel for him. But it is kind of played off as a joke because he is only delusional when he is in a relationship.
But
I do have to say that this is an independent film and mentions that jealousy is an issue in the description. And I read IMDB desc before watching the movie
"The story of Charlie Darby, who has everything going for him: a great job, friends, family, the whole package. The one thing Charlie doesn't have is love, because every time he gets close, he goes clinically insane. When he meets the perfect girl, Charlie must overcome his psychosis to claim his chance at true love." .
So I did not find the character "creepy" enough to worry that he was going to snap and kill someone or that he was a stalker. But I can understand why so,e women watching this movie might feel that way.
This all boils down to the writer trying to turn a real mental illness into a slight dark comedy with a regular romantic comedy formula for a script.
What a shame.
The reason Silver Linings Playbook worked was because it wasn't written as a romantic comedy formula. It wasn't a dark comedy. It wasn't written as a comedy at all. It was written as a drama and took love and mental issues very seriously.
Anyway this movie had so much potential had it been handled properly.And because I was able too see and even feel this movie for what it should have been ...I give it a 7 to encourage independent film makers to study what this movie did right and to encourage future film makers to watch this film as an example how to ruin a potentially brilliant independent gem.
