Save the Date (2012)

Lizzy Caplan is always amazing but nothing else related to this film was. Everything from dialogue, cinematography, characters, etc. is just recycled material from 50 other films that were released over the past two decades. The angst, tribulations and self doubt that every 28 year old film character experiences but none of the real world does, is at the point of absurdity. I have no idea how these hacks get this bland trash produced and distributed but I presume special favors are exchanged in hotel rooms to make it happen.

From a production perspective, I stopped counting the continuity errors, inconsistent sound and lighting and wardrobe errors. I did watch until the end because Lizzy Caplan can make anything aesthetically appealing but I tuned out of the dialogue about 45 minutes into the film so I honestly don't really know what happened in the last act.

Fmovies: It has characters that are vaguely interesting but eventually I really didn't care who anyone ended up with. They were all mostly just mean or sad and made a half hearted attempt to rally at the end that left me emotionally uninvested. The ending was terrible and if I actually had liked the characters I might have cared. I was just thinking the other day that I generally like all movies. But alas no.

If you want to watch a movie where characters are lost and seem to want to stay lost and further seem happy being lost and communicating poorly and blaming everyone else for their problems then this movie is for you. The characters clearly have the emotional depth of a kiddy pool.

Sarah (Lizzy Caplan) and Beth (Alison Brie) are sisters. Beth is planning a wedding to Andrew (Martin Starr). Sarah rejects live-in boyfriend Kevin (Geoffrey Arend)'s proposal and moves out. She starts dating Jonathan (Mark Webber) who has had a crush on her.

I love all of them as actors and like the characters they play. Tthe story is somewhat bland and I can't really say I love this movie. The story is fine, but it is nothing special. I do wish it has snappier dialog.

Save the Date fmovies. This look in on those Young Adult Singles with prolonged Teen attitudes with a free Spirit seems, Today, dated and worn out. These Angst Driven Counter Culture Movies and Comics were all the rage, back then. Ghost World (2001), was one of the best. But this is no Ghost World. It is a prefabricated and phony "insight" into the narcissistic World of self involved dullard's who pretend they have something to say, through Art.

The Truth is, these People and their Art are neither profound or engaging. The Band screams...Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba-Baaaaby(that's all the lyrics). That might have been Cool when the Virbrators did it in the late 70's. She of lead Character Status, is an "Artist". Her Drawings make most Underground Comics look simply sublime.

In fact, all the Characters in this shallow swill are unlikeable and for that matter barely seem real. They are not even interesting Caricatures. Things move along with the Romance part of this Rom-Com that isn't much more than at best voyeuristic-ally cringe worthy or just plain unattractive. The Com part of this Rom-Com comes, and don't hold your breath, through uncomfortable situations and ridiculous telegraphed set-ups (packing dirty dishes because Her new place has a dishwasher). How rebellious.

That's about as anti-establishment as this thing gets as it also takes swipes at conventional things like traditional relationships and Weddings, but it all seems so fake and forced that this turns into a by the numbers exercise purposely, predictably, and painfully going outside the lines.

It's interesting how long Save the Date has been available on PPV and it's only earned a few reviews. I think this movie will do well on wide release, but it's likely to polarize audiences...I can see people either loving or hating it.

It's far from the traditional RomCom that pleases everyone, but for those who've been through their share of relationship hells and heavens, you'll find a lot to relate to here, and the beauty of Save the Date is that it does it in a chillingly realistic, yet touching way.

Much of this understatement is played with an almost desperate intensity by Lizzy Kaplan, in what many have termed a breakthrough performance (it is). She plays Sarah, a manager of a small bookshop who's pretty much "along for the ride" dating band leader Kevin (Geoff Arend). They seem content enough, yet there are small clues early in the film that something is "off", and when Sarah's best friend (the bubbly Allison Brie) is given a ring by Kevin's drummer (an overdue part in the limelight for the hilarious Martin Starr), it prompts Kevin to do something truly morityfing --- mortifying, that is, if you DON'T want it to happen: he proposes to Sarah in front of a crowded bar band audience and she chokes, a hundred camera phone close by to broadcast the humiliation for weeks to come on You Tube.

The majority of the film follows Sarah as she rebounds to a relationship with good guy Johnathan (Mark Webber) and struggles with a lot of very esoteric issues NOT usually dealt with in "light entertainment": is Sarah in love or like with Johnathan? Is she over Kevin completely? Just what is her freaking problem with commitment and intimacy, anyhow? A lot of these questions will irritate people, but they intrigued me, especially as played out by Kaplan, who is very adept at saying a lot with even the slightest gestures and facial ticks.

Add to this Brie's rock-solid true-to-life support, Martin Starr's deadpan ad-libbed one-liners, and Geoff Arrend's music (his song "Accidents" is truly a beautiful little two-minute piece of heaven) and you have a very unique human comedy that could give you something to think about, in addition to something to swoon over.

You don't really have to Save the Date as it isn't really worth watching. Lizzy Caplan (Cloverfield, Bachelorette) stars as indecisive Sarah, who runs from her long-term relationship with a musician (Geoffrey Arend - 500 Days of Summer, Devil) when he decides to propose to her during the encore of one of his concerts. Sarah's sister Beth (Alison Brie - "Community", "Mad Men") is getting married and while she loves her sister they don't always get along (and Sarah NEVER takes her advice). We get an hour and a half of this as Sarah starts a new relationship with Jonathan (Mark Webber - For a Good Time Call, Scott Pilgrim vs the World) but then begins to question that too when he turns out to be "too good".

This is another tale of a thirtysomething struggling to figure things out ... and this could become a brand new sub-genre of drama. Save the Date doesn't really give an audience anything new to enjoy or appreciate cinematically ... we are just getting another version of this oft-told experience/story. As this one never rises above what we have already seen, it isn't anything to recommend (unless you really like Caplan of course ... whom I wish would get the perfect role someday -- and this isn't it!).

Thanks for asking us to Save the Date, but I will regrettably decline as there is surely something more interesting to watch.