Between Us (2012)

Crappy film

Absolutely Fantastic

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

I read the reviews for Between US before I watched the movie. The reviews were the extremes. All good or all bad. Well I lean to the all bad end of the scale.There was a severe lack of material for this movie so the director tried to stretch 10 minutes of real material to fill a 90 minute movie. There is a blowout argument between people who were friends\coexistors from college where they air things they think about each other. The depth of the conversations was amazing considering they were not life long friends. They were just college friends\coexistors. But they get really personal with their attacks on each other.I also had a hard time believing the couples were really couples. The couples savage each other as well. What?The distracting back and forth changes in time were very confusing. They show our characters sad then happy then sad again without showing us why we needed to know that? OK. Things were bad at one time then good at others in their lives. We all know that.This movie is a 100% pass.

The movie is based on a play, that is to say it's basically a lay in film form. Like so many plays, and play based movies, it revolves around couples and relationships and I'm getting somewhat tired of the recurring theme. It seems most of these moves are pretty much the same, sure they have different situations and settings, but the basic dialogs are the same, and that's exactly the case here. The movie/play juxtaposes 2 couples at different time in their life and deals with issues such as the frustration of long term relationships, finance, life choices, urban living vs. the country.....ordinary stuff which you've no doubt come across before and that isn't taken to new heights here. Some of the scenes are laughably over the top and that just really pulls you out of the moment and makes you doubt the credibility of the story and the characters. Apart from that the acting and directing was great, David Harbour was especially good although Melissa George was bland through most of it, bad casting perhaps. In short, watch this if you like quasi intellectual relationship plays.

Let's be clear: This is not an easy movie to watch. Like Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? or (more recently) Carnage, Between Us almost seems to revel in exposing the nastier side of human nature. We're given a ringside seat at an emotional slugfest as a pair of (nominally friendly) couples eviscerate themselves and each other at a series of ill-advised dinner parties. Once the wine starts to loosen tongues and inhibitions, verbal sparring quickly escalates into full-on psychological warfare -- the 'take no prisoners' kind. And trust me: There's more genuine violence in this movie than the entire third act of Man of Steel -- it's just that here the characters are clobbered with words, not skyscrapers.In short: If you like Who's Afraid...? and Carnage, then Between Us is a must-see.

What tries to be an intense, cerebral drama turns out to be anything but in director Dan Mirvish's astonishingly terrible Between Us. If first impressions truly are everything, it appears someone forgot to give the memo to the director and cast, as the film opens with one of the most inexplicably irritating and unnatural dialogue sequences in contemporary film history. For those holding out hope…well…things don't get much better. The story centres on two couples; once friends, but now heading in different directions- the offbeat artistic pairing of Carlo (Taye Diggs) and Grace (Julia Stiles) and the wealthy but unhappy Joel (David Harbour) and Sharyl (Melissa George). No further synopsis can be provided, though, as the film proves to be utterly plot less right from the outset. The story intermittently jumps between key moments in these characters' lives, providing no valid linkages along the way, instead assuming that audiences will graciously accept multiple sudden breaks in an already disjointed film. Each scene feels atrociously recycled, simply putting a different couple in the same troublesome situation. Naturally, this highly predictable fare becomes tired very quickly, as the film persistently fails to demand even the slightest sliver of viewer attention.Writers Mirvish and Joe Hortua grossly mishandle any opportunities to develop their characters. All four individuals regularly flip-flop on decisions and established motives, giving a laughably embarrassing air to a film that takes itself far too seriously.And yet, none of its aforementioned flaws can trump the disastrous overacting indulged in by each cast member. Harbour leads the pack, coming off as some sort of cringe worthy aberration of Modern Family's Phil Dunphy, with all of the social awkwardness and none of the charm, but make no mistake- the honour of 'worst actor' remains very much a four horse race, culminating in a soppy, borderline intelligence-insulting ending. Avoid with extreme prejudice.*There's nothing I love more than a bit of feedback, good or bad. So drop me a line on [email protected] and let me know what you thought of my review. If you're looking for a writer for your movie website or other publication, I'd also love to hear from you.*