3. Clerks
I don't mean to be a film elitist snob when I say this, but I don't get Clerks. I've heard so much about it, so I went in with high hopes. In a movie that doesn't rely on flashy visuals or big-name actors, I expected something that was written with a sharp wit and moved at a quick clip; none of the above were present. The poor acting from Brian O'Halloran as lead Dante Hicks spoiled a film that actually featured a solid supporting cast.
Director Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes provided the few laughs of the film as Jay and Silent Bob, breakout characters from the film. Their ambiguous sexuality provides one of the few successful gags in the film, with Jay continuously just spitting out wild, homoerotic statements before brushing it off due to strange looks from Silent Bob.
Also a standout was Jeff Anderson as slacker Randal Graves. While he wasn't necessarily brilliantly funny, he acted the role of the lazy but lovable Graves to perfection, which is more than you can say about others in the film.
4. (500) Days of Summer
Going from a film I expected to be filled with charm and wit and one that did; (500) Days of Summer features brilliant performances from the two leads; Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel play new coworkers who have completely opposite views on relationships. Gordon-Levitt, in particular, as Tom Hansen, a greeting card writer who's dreams of being an architect have flustered, plays the role to an innocent brilliance, portraying the friend we all have who falls in love too fast and gets his heart broken every time.
The film portrays the five-hundred days over which Deschanel's chracter, Summer Finn, and Hansen harbor a relationship that goes through it's ups-and-downs like any relationship does. It gives you this raw look into how Hansen thinks and feels and how the relationship affects him, and it's an immensely refreshing take on the traditional romantic comedy.
While the movie is largely carried by the strength of it's two leads, the two supporting actors of Matthew Gray Gubler and Geoffrey Arend as the two lovable sidekicks to Hansen. They provide some of the best lines of the film, and both prove to be valuable additions to a small cast.
The film itself has this innate charm and is upbeat and fun. It's just one of those films you can watch repeatedly. Needless to say, perfect date film.
- Preston, 4/116-
