M2b

This is not a comedy by any means. The laughter is sparse at best and does not belong in the tone of this pseudo-drama. It's not a drama either. It might have worked as a preposterous chick flick, except the principals caught in the conflict are guys, not chicks. Nobody, and I mean nobody would act the way the mentally retarded characters invented by the sceeenwriter would if faced with the situation. Not women, not men. Everybody in the film is pathetic, including the retarded lothario and the cheating spouse. I would hope that none of the actors in the film would act this way either, that is if they mistake themselves for adults. Alan Loeb already has one preposterous failed comedy to his credit..the excrable Switch. That's the Jennifer Anniston vehicle based on the hilarious proposition of an accidental sperm switch at a Manhattan insemination party. Yes. Talk about humorous possibilities. I would like to think a Sid Ceasar could rise from the grave, save the world from Alan Loeb, and then return. For those of you not living on earth, even the creepiest from Manhattan do not throw artificial insemination parties. Someone should tell Loeb.

So in the The Dilemma we have two creepy non-friends with not a clue as to what real friendship means, and replace that with severe angst, violence, and lead bolt stupidity. Friends like this no one needs. But one suspects that is all the desperate Loeb can find. I wonder did the actors read this odiferous script and then sign on. Or did they merely need the paychecks, no matter how bad. I used to like Ron Howard's work. I started to turn against him when he defamed the memory of the late Max Baer Sr for no good reason in The Cinderella Man. He had the story hook of how hard the desperately poor James Braddock worked for his title shot, while then talented Baer ignored his training. So Howard reinvents Baer as a crazed arrogant killer. Unforgivable.

Howard's new effort is worse. Friends don't let friends see the Dilemma

Huh?

When does the movie start? The film is formulaic, predictable, pleasant. That's the good news, it won't kill you to sit thru it. Wait for Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter to go see when you're in a mood to end your own life.

I don't understand the raves for Jeff Bridges' performance, and I like him, always have. I think that's how he's winning awards for Crazy Heart, people like him. His performance is professional. He does the job. It's not in any way a stand out job of acting, really. He's good, that's it. Maggie Gyllenthal is also OK as his younger lover interest. She looks great from the neck up and Bridges' Bad Blake keeps yapping about how gorgeous she is. But they don't keep the camera away from her skinny body and flat bottom, and frankly, she didn't look that hot to me. They could have cast this part better. The best thing in the film was a big star's unadvertised part as Bad Blake's super successful protégé. It's not a secret if you look it up, like they did with Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder, but this guy's performance was the best in the film, so I won't ruin the surprise and name the star here.

In the film, they keep raving about how great the song that Bad Blake writes for Maggie is, called (surprise) Crazy Heart. Huh? (again). The song is truly truly ordinary, far less as songs than the ones supposed to be Bad Blake's old hits. In the film, I think they briefly mention some famous-not so famous country song writer/singer who the Bad Blake character is supposed to be based on. I never heard of him before, and likely won't ever again.

The cinematography of the Southwest is excellent, breathtaking at times. The film is not. It is being badly overrated by the jackal pack that reviews films nowadays. They sniff out what the consensus is saying, and write accordingly.

If you wait for DVD-rental, unless you're a country music fan, you won't make it thru the two hours without falling asleep or hitting pause to go surf the channels. Trust me.