2013-08-21

20130821: Review Comedy--The Kitchen




Name: The Kitchen (2012)
IMDb: link to The Kitchen

Genres: Comedy, Drama.   Country of origin: USA

Cast: Laura Prepon as Jennifer, Bryan Greenberg as Paul, Dreama Walker as Penny, Tate Ellington as Kenny.

Directed by: Ishai Sutton.    Written by: John Beggarly.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
Jennifer is turning 30 years old.  Her friends are holding a party for her, though she's not all that much into celebrating.  The party, and all the film's shooting, is held in her large kitchen.  Still, the crowding is like an extra character in the story.

The delineation of conflicts:
Jennifer is not getting along with the boyfriend, Paul, because of his unfaithfulness.  More infidelities are exposed.  The host of the party, Stan, is in love with Jennifer, but this is not reciprocated.

Penny, Jennifer's sister, is getting an abortion, which is news to Jennifer.  The guests are a big box of obnoxious, as were the photographer and the uninvited attendees.

Vladimir, Jennifer's hope to be the star for her new gallery, decides to stay at his current gallery, instead of accepting her invitation.  The battle of the bands (the one paid to perform, and the one not hired) was an extra annoyance.

Resolution: As one might expect in a feel-bad movie, a few things get better, but most get worse.

One line summary: Feel-bad birthday party comedy.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 8/10 Well lit, good color saturation, reasonable framing and focus.  The camera is a bit jerky now and then.

Sound: 9/10 The sound is mostly from well-miked actors with some background music.

Acting: 4/10 The males seem not to be actors and none of them know how to shave, nor how to grow a beard.  The females at least know how to read lines.

Screenplay: 4/10 Boring.  No engaging characters, but several repellant ones.  The dialog does move along without contradicting itself.  The uptick at the end (three minutes or so) hardly balances the unrelenting depiction of all the characters as pigs.

Final Rating: Four of ten.

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