Results (2015)

I found the movie slightly amusing, but just slightly. It have a few laughs here and there. They attempt to be quirky, and I guess in a since that did work out for them, but the quirky was not all that entertaining.

The movie starts out pretty strong, but once you get half way through, you can feel it lagging, and I just wanted to end. It's a romantic comedy that has not surprises so you know they'll stay with the formula, so there was no need to drag it out, but the filmmakers do.

Which is too bad, because it's worth seeing for the acting talents of Guy Pearce,Cobie Smulders and Kevin Corrigan, but you have too sit through a lot of useless time for that talent.

Fmovies: Premiering in this year's Sundance Film Festival's US Dramatic Competition, Andrew Bujalski's new dramedy Results is equal parts heartfelt, witty, and genuinely hilarious. Featuring standout performances from Guy Pearce, Cobie Smulders and Kevin Corrigan, the film tells the story of the Power 4 Life gym, owned and managed by Trevor (Guy Pearce). He dreams of opening up a new location and branching out his business a bit to rival his competitors. Who knows, maybe a future location downtown might even have an on-site juice bar or a new yoga room? Trevor's business plans get mixed up with that of Kat (Cobie Smulders) his coworker who has taken on a new ultra-wealthy client Danny (Kevin Corrigan) who is set on getting back in shape at any cost. The results (no pun intended) of these eccentric characters' lives being mixed together creates some highly entertaining scenarios, like when Danny develops a crush on Kat and tries to bribe her with marijuana, or when Kat and Trevor have spontaneous late night drinks with rival gym owner Gregory (Anthony Michael Hall).

Bujalski's work is infamous for being a mash up of vinaigrettes that encompass an overall story, and Results has received its fair share of criticism for not having an even tone. I panned Bujalski's previous film, Computer Chess for that every reason upon my first viewing. After some thought however, and a much-needed second viewing, I realized Bujalski's dedication to small details and his ability to avoid clichés and tropes makes him one of the most exciting indie directors out there. The writing in Results is near-perfect; you get a sense that these aren't just movie characters, but living and breathing people with their own set of complicated romantic desires and needs, and Bujalski captures them like a fly on the wall at their very best (and worst) moments.

Besides being Bujalski's most commercial and most accessible film, Results might also be his funniest. It's a fantastic and witty film - the kind of thing you would expect Wes Anderson or Woody Allen to come up with - one with such fresh energy and endearing characters hard not to like. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but for those looking for some lighthearted-but- complex storytelling should look no further.

Pearce is phenomenal, as always, If it wasn't for him there was nothing to review. It is not the lack of talent but a dwindling obvious storyline. Smulders character is rather irritating. Her confrontational whimsical personality does not at all gel on screen with Pearce. Smulders plays her part without any subtlety in a storyline that relies on small developments. I get that this is the whole plot line, contradicting personalities etc, but it moves along choppy and forcefully in an effort to match Smulders and Pearce together.The part with the client could have been more useful but it became rather redundant.

Results fmovies. This is by all means a "little" simple movie. Nothing spectacular, performance or script-wise.

The direction is boring and slow and the lack of music in most of the scenes makes more obvious the poor script and dialogs.

The spotlight of "who is" the main protagonist is confusing. You may think initially that is Kevin Corrigan (a bad choice for this role) but he isn't. Actually all the characters are mild and seem insignificant.

Cobie Smulders with a large experience in rom-com TV, makes her character a little less flat but in the end her talent is wasted. So are the talents of Guy Pearce and Giovanni Ribisi.

Overall: Very simplistic. Not really cute. Not an actual comedy.

Netflix's streaming service can be a vast wasteland, but it can also be good for finding off the beaten path films that never would have played at any theater near me and that I might not wanted to have spent $10 on if they did. I've discovered a few real gems this way, as well as waded through some muck. "Results" is not a gem, but it has quite a bit to recommend it.

I get tired of overly-scripted, overly-serious, over-produced studio films about BIG and IMPORTANT themes, so it's nice to come across films with laid back, indie vibes, about "regular" people dealing with the daily act of living, and that's what "Results" is. Kevin Corrigan is Danny, a depressed schlub who hires Kat, a personal trainer (Cobie Smulders) who works at a gym run by Trevor (Guy Pearce), with whom she previously had a fling. Things get uncomfortable when Danny and Kat's professional relationship crosses the boundary into the too personal, forcing Kat and Trevor to face some emotions that both have been trying to ignore.

This might all sound overly scripted, but it doesn't feel that way as it plays out. It feels loose and even rambling at times, and indeed one of my biggest complaints about the film is that it can't seem to decide who its main character is. But what I did like about the screenplay was its ability to upend our suppositions about these characters and the kind of people they represent. At first, our sympathies lie with Kat and Trevor at the sake of Danny. They're attractive, fit, ambitious, everything we're told people who are in charge of their lives should be. Danny is weird, kind of creepy, ugly, dumpy. But as the film evolves, Kat and Trevor find that they have as much if not more to learn from Danny than he has from them, and that a life driven by striving for striving's sake isn't the path to inner peace and contentment, no matter how many power smoothies you drink or articles of Under Armour clothing you wear.

Guy Pearce is one of my favorite actors, and he's really good in this film, doing a lot with material that another actor might not have been able to sell as well. Corrigan is the other standout, giving a minor miracle of a comedic performance, slowly winning the audience over until he almost makes us believe that being out of shape and stoned is what we should all aspire to. Smulders is the one who left me cold. She never makes Kat likable and very frequently makes her annoying. The best scenes in the film are those between Pearce and Corrigan, where Mulders isn't present at all.

Giovanni Ribisi appears here and there in a pointless role as a pothead attorney.

Grade: B+

Wesley Morris (man, I miss reading his reviews on Grantland every week) called this movie "sneak attack romance." It is also sneak attack comedy and character development. But the story never feels forced. Maybe that's the nuanced performances or maybe it's the little moments that make the whole thing feel genuine. I did not know these movies were still getting made, honestly. I'm glad they are. They make you laugh without punchlines, and that should not be so rare.