The Longest Week (2014)

"Sometimes you're your own worst enemy." Conrad (Bateman) is forty and still living off his parents. He has no ambition in life and is content living in a hotel that he doesn't have to pay for. When his friend introduces him to his newest girlfriend, Beatrice (Wilde), Conrad falls in love. When his parents decide to separate Conrad is cut off and now he has no job, no place to live and is in love with his best friends girl. I am a huge Jason Bateman fan so I was excited to watch this. While I can't say this is a bad movie I can say it was a little slow and somewhat generic. It may be because I watch so many movies but about 15 minutes in I predicted what would happen, and I was right. That said, the movie isn't terrible but I was hoping for something a little better. Overall, not terrible but pretty predictable, generic and slow moving. I expected something better with Jason Bateman and Olivia Wilde. I give this a B-.

Fmovies: The Longest Week is a lesson that it's possible to have ideas, a great cast, a good script and then put it all up on screen and miss - dreadfully.

The Longest Week comes with a healthy dose of frustration as we delve into the incredibly narcissistic world that our three main protagonists live in. It borrows from the New York film book but is too much in love with the world it wants to send up and we fall, not for the characters, but asleep.

This film is not a mess - it looks great, the acting is great, the constant narration is annoying, but more than that is a vast sense of alienation between the screen and the viewer - it's an unbridgeable abyss caused by a palpable sense of ennui and boredom.

All in all, the next film will work - this goes from charm to smarmy to boring very fast and never gets us to care one jot.

This film is captivating. The plot was a hackneyed one, granted, but the director needs credit for what he did with it. It is like the diver choosing a simple dive so the high scoring will be in the execution. Casting was faultless. Jason Bateman is one of only a handful of actors who could have succeeded with this, including Greg Kinnear, possibly Ricky Gervais and in older days, Cary Grant maybe. Billy Crudup played an extraordinary role in that his character Dylan was not pushed beyond that fine line of reality. Olivia Wilde again was the ideal choice for the same reasons - she was able to stay within the bounds of the film without stretching the comedy into Hangover-ish nonsense. If this was as a result of good writing and direction then it was very well done.

So, would the average viewer have expected this film to eventually jump the shark and resolve with a Matthew McConaugheyesque love scene involving microphones or CCTV? Of course. Did it happen? No. Courageous direction. The film was therefore a pleasure to watch, to absorb and not to get too upset about. Like watching and appreciating a great game of football with absolutely no interest in either team or the result. No emotional connection. Brilliantly done. No "what?" moments, no "you're kidding me?" reactions. The director also addressed the dilemma of what happens after the period in question. We know it's easy to leave the viewer with a couple desperately in love /reconciled /whatevered, and it's cheap and effortless to imagine it will last. It doesn't. And this film avoids all that trite nonsense at the risk that most viewers will think that because there is no grand finale love scene, nothing has happened. Wrong. Plenty happened and it was very strong direction and writing to use this approach. I hope it is the start for more to emulate.

It showcased the beauty of New York. It is a wonderful city. It made the viewer think what period it was set in without going to a plastic Gatsby recreation of a 1960-70's city. Just put the modern day cars a bit out of focus and get on with the story. Thankyou. We don't need to transformed into a different world - just do what live plays have done for ages - encourage the viewer to imagine. No wasting time or effort in recreation which would invite the inevitable 'they got that one wrong' nonsense. But that was only evident in several parts of the film. The rest was pure sailing. So almost full marks to all concerned for producing such a refreshing piece of work and for not submitting to the grand finale, for not allowing it to be a banal addition to the ranks of so many other comedies of this era. In some ways it is in the style of Coen films such a Inside Llewyn Davis, sans violence. Comedy without slapstick. comedy for the discerning viewer. Bring on more of this.

The Longest Week fmovies. This film tells the story of a man with ultra rich parents, who is suddenly broke after his parents cut off his allowance. He puts on a cover up and wins a woman's heart, yet he discovers there is something more to life.

The interaction between Conrad and Dylan is realistic, thigh they both live in a world beyond most people's reach. Their intense competition between each other and yet almost accomplishing nothing is ironic, but I like the joke about the Volvo going back and forth. The romance subplot is very sweet and convincing, I enjoyed watching it.

This is a romantic comedy with a journey of self discovery. It's a pity that the main characters Conrad and Dylan are portrayed to be rather unlikable and arrogant characters who have no clue about the real world. That's because the film is actually enjoyable and rather warm, and if the characters are a bit more likable, people would probably like it more.

I give this movie only a 3 not because it's cinematography, which is quite good, or it's actors, which are very good, but because the concept just kills the movie...

This is a movie so full of it that pretends to tell a story about a rich man, Conrad Valmont, going from pleasure of life, money and fame to loose it all and get the girl of his dreams and pretends to do it introducing the concept of love, possessions, friendship, drama and comedy all at the same time, failing in all aspects at once.

The concept is there, the movie is literally filled with style all over the place, carefully constructed with the tones, the scenery and each line, but in the end, it is incredible shallow, because it tries so hard for us to like Conrad Valmont and the way he is growing up in the story, yet it does it with detached images of himself and a voice-over.

THe most important parts of his life are done with pictures and a voice- over telling us WHAT we should be looking at in that moment.. what we should be feeling...

I have an advice for the director, don't consider your public just dumb and don't fill the movie with pretentious dialog like we can't distinguish an analogy from a concept, just give us the scene and let us use our imagination.

By telling us what to feel and what to think about our main character the movie does itself a great dis-service, it detach it's audience of participation on this characters.

By the time the movie is on the first half, i lost all interest, this is more an exercises in a filming technique with complex words and a cumbersome script that pretends to be intelligent than a movie about any real topic whatsoever.

The movie is not about love, nor growing up or friendship, it's everything and nothing. Tries to give a message and fails miserably, tries to makes us laugh and fails, elaborates complex dialog and a narrative voice-over that ends up generating discomfort to the viewer.

It's funny because Conrad discover he is just a prick and an egotistical person and when I finish watching the movie I think the same about the production team.. They just did a movie using a concept and some specific style just because it's nice and they totally forget about doing a movie with some heart in it.

The result is a movie full of itself with tons of dialog that accounts for nothing and about the worst selection of music I ever listened in a long time.

Go watch any other romantic comedy but this and you should be fine.. AVOID it unless you want to punish yourself and your girl.

To call "The Longest Week" a delight would be an overstatement. To call it average would be unjust. The movie is a Wodehousian romance which features terrific visuals in almost every frame. That's right... Almost every frame is picture perfect like this is a Wes Anderson film. At the same time, the dialogues and the story are entirely "Allenesque". If you liked Fading Gigolo - an attempt to recreate Allenesque filmmaking - you will fall in love with The Longest Week.

Why is Jenny Slate top-billed when the story is clearly about Jason Bateman's philandering character? And why is Jenny Slate even in the movie? You could replace her character with anyone else, and you'd hardly notice any difference. I saw this at a preview screening. I hope the filmmakers realize it and change the billings.

The Longest Week has great visuals, good dialogue and soothing sounds (the soundtrack's totally piano and jazz). The film is also 80 minutes long, and yes, I for one was wanting more as the film was in some ways enchanting.

If you like Wes Anderson films, give it a shot for its beauty! Not a Wes Anderson fan? C'mon! Olivia Wilde is in the movie and she's drop dead gorgeous!