Bending All the Rules

This independent film doesn't follow the usual Hollywood prescribed script with the neat and tidy happy ending for all. I think that's why I enjoyed it so much. It was unpredictable. The film follows a young woman and shows us some of the choices she makes - most of them heavily influenced by her upbringing. Rather than have the character of Kenna experience some cathartic change and start on a new path in life, the movie simply unravels the course that she in on and ultimately continues on. It may not be as polished as a block buster, but it has charm. Top acting and the filming was beautiful. The carny scenes interspersed throughout the film were entertaining all on their own - some great characters hidden in there.

This film is so bad that I honestly thought maybe it was done poorly on purpose, like a "Blair Witch Project" kind of thing. I can hear the director saying, "Cut, it's just not bad enough yet". The cinematography, if you can even call it that, is reminiscent of an 80s B movie, but the lighting and the look change throughout. Some scenes look like a talk show, and some look like a Soap Opera. The audio is terrible. Most of the dialogue is production audio, and the few voice-overs that were done barely line up with the actors mouths. I rarely turn a movie off before the end, but I couldn't stomach another moment. I only watched the first 20 minutes. Oh, and the plot, you ask? I have no idea! If I could vote a negative number I would.

I got this movie since the cover looked good and I do enjoy Bradley Cooper. The child actors (especially the girl) are terrible. The cinematography is like a bad 80s made for TV picture and the quality of film changes from scene to scene. The sound is bad and in some scenes sounds like your in a room with a bad echo. The lighting is inconsistent and changes within a scene. I have no idea what the plot is. After an hour I had to turn it off, something I've rarely ever done. The acting done by the Cooper and the main actress was fine, they obviously know what they are doing, and it simply highlights when bad actors come in. Its just bad.

We couldn't even make it through the first 15 minutes of this pile of sophomoric dung. I've seen better acting and more compelling story lines in bad porn. Don't let the crooks that released this on video get another dollar from you simply because it has Bradley Cooper in it eight years before he got lucky and was cast in Hangover. Bradley cooper is a stiff, unskilled, dope in this movie. His acting is pathetic and yet still better than the others in the movie. This is simply something someone found lost on the floor amidst a pile of bad Pauly Shore movies for the last 9 years. Their greed coaxed them into releasing it on video with the hopes of suckering in a bunch of people to unknowingly fork over a couple bucks to taint their DVD players with this festering pus-filled boil of shame. I was hoodwinked. I hope you read this review before you're hoodwinked too.

My boyfriend and I did like Bradley Cooper in The Hangover and a couple of his other movies. We were choosing between this one and another movie (which has one of our favorite actors). Generally it takes us a while to warm up to new or somewhat new rising stars, and we normally stick to our favorite long-standing actors. This time we figured, well, since we were on vacation, why not "bending all the rules"? (And why not? Title fits the mood....)

We were very disappointed shortly after the movie began... with the acting, sound effect, and content/storyline, etc. My boyfriend fell asleep 15 minutes into the movie, and I couldn't watch any more after half an hour... I am quite generous when it comes to movie ratings; in addition, someone practically had to twist my arms for me to give up watching even a rather bad movie – hoping it'd get better... This one didn't pass my hoping! It bent it... and motivated me to write my first movie review! I am also hoping that others might take the more negative reviews into considerations before renting or buying it... It is quite a waste of time and money!