Review: This is one of those films that from the cover art and the trailer (depending on which of the trailers you see) it may mislead you to thinking it's either a Hangover ripoff or something that is more of a uplifting coming of age type of film. I can tell you that it really is far from either of those. Instead you get a trip into madness where a group of 4 friends get together to celebrate a birthday and in turn truly discover who they really are and finally confront their dark pasts. Now this is one of those films that really make you think and also make you reflect on your own life, but I am not saying that everyone will get the same message from I Melt With You.
One thing you can expect is a very dark drama that starts off fairly fun with a group of guys getting together and reminiscing on the past while getting drunk and doing drugs then sharply turns dark and keeps descending into that direction until it comes to crashing end. Now I am not going to get into the details of what happens because it is something to experience and not to have described to you. With that being said this will not be an overly long review that could spoil the film (like I usually try to do). One thing I will say is that at a certain point I did figure out what was going to happen (as will most people), but not sure how. Which I can honestly say did not kill the film for me.
Now when it comes to the cast of I Melt With You they did an amazing job with picking the right people for each of the roles. To me it really took some great talent for this group of characters to come alive on screen. First off that had to be versatile and able to convey the vast amount of emotions that they go through and they did flawlessly. There really is only 5 main characters of which 4 are always on screen and those are played flawlessly by Thomas Jane (The Mist), Jeremy Piven (Entourage), Rob Lowe (Wayne's World), Christian McKay (Me and Orson Wells), and Carla Gugino (The Watchmen/Son In Law). With a great cast like that you know you are in for a great film.
Besides the cast you also get a great score that is filled with plenty of great music from such bands as Bauhaus, Pixies, Funkadelic, and Filter. I especially like the scene where they use "Hey Man, Nice Shot" by Filter which fits the scene oh so well. Overall this was a very strong and powerful film that I feel you will either hate and think it's pointless or you will go the other way and actually open your mind to the message behind it. I say give it a chance, but please go into it with an open mind.
-Daniel "Damnation" Lee
Director: Mark Pellington
Genre: Drama
Blu-ray Release Year: 2012
Theatrical Release Year: 2011
Time Length: 122 mins.
Company: Magnolia Home Entertainment
Website:
www.magpictures.com
