Ed's Review Dot Com

Tarnol Group Pictures,

Sarah Hyland, Steve Howey, Odeya Rush, Bret Harrison, Emma Bell, Jake McDorman, Beau Mirchoff, Michael Weston, Conor O’Farrell

The Burwood family is a mess. After her mother died, Johana Burwood (Sarah Hyland) left home and had no relationship with her brothers or father for four years. Now her brother has died under strange circumstances and Johana has returned home along with her boyfriend and her two brothers to pay their last respects to their brother. Things are tense and no one seems to care much about anyone else, and the family is in shambles. But when an old High School boyfriend shows up who is just not wiling to let go, Johana has to face some past issues and deceit in her life and the family tries to come together to give their brother a bigger sendoff than any of them imagined.

This is a fractured family tale like many others. In that genre people seem to sit around the kitchen table a lot and talk and talk and talk, with a few epic arguments thrown in. This one certainly has that, but the relationship between Johana and her beau, and the triangle with her ex that she’s obviously not completely done with yet makes it a bit more interesting. Then the brothers are very competitive, so they give us a lot to watch. But perhaps the biggest surprise was Sarah Hyland and the job she did carrying this movie. She’s turned into a pretty good little actress. Her performance was definitely a bright point in this film. All in all, this is not a bad little film. I enjoyed it, and despite the long talking scenes, it kept me interested. I can moderately recommend this film if the notion strikes you. You can do a lot worse.

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2S Films, Alcon Entertainment, Wild Ocean Films

Ginnifer Goodwin, Kate Hudson, Colin Egglesfield, John Krasinski, Steve Howey, Ashley Williams, Geoff Pierson, Jill Eikenberry, Jonathan Epstein

Rachel (Ginnifer Goodwin) is a successful lawyer. For years she’s been best friends with Darcy (Kate Hudson) Way back in Law school she was study mates with Dex (Colin Egglesfield), whom she had a crush on and never got over, but Darcy moved in and they started dating. Now Darcy is engaged to Dex, and while at an engagement party, Rachel mentions that she always had a crush on Dex which surprised him. They ended up involved and both feel terrible about it. So Rachel is planning to be the maid of honor for the wedding of her best friend to a guy she just spent the night with. Talk about complications. This is a complicated story that needs to unravel piece by piece.

This is a fine romantic comedy. Kate Hudson is not very likable here, and she’s a bit of a flake. She uses Rachel and has always topped her in everything. Dex is also a rich kid but a bit of wimp, following orders and doing what he’s told to do. Rachel is the sweet one here, but she has not been able to develop her own identity and is always doing what she’s told to do as well. John Krasinski is also in this film (Jim from The Office) as Ethan who has always carried a torch for Rachel, but knows she fell in love with someone else. It all works out in a way, but not in the way I expected. It’s a good story, and Ginnifer is getting to be a really good actress. She carries this film very well, and we get to know her character really well. The jokes are funny, and the situations are funnier. When you start out telling lies, you certainly do weave a tangled web! There is a short scene at the ends during the credits that is a bit of a surprise and is well worth waiting for.

All in all, I enjoyed this “chick flick” for the strong story and the deep character depth each one shows. It was a good film, and one I liked very much.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog