20130909: Comedy Review--Look at Me

Name: Look at Me (2012)
IMDb: link to Look at Me page

Genres: Comedy, Romance.   Country of origin: USA.

Cast: James Duval as Frank, Jill Hoiles as Chloe, Katherine Pawlak as Lindsey, Yousef Abu-Taleb as Chris, Jessica Rose as Elizabeth, Matthew Florida as Brad.

Written and directed by Alesia Glidewell.

Image courtesy of IMDb

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
The film is set in New York City, mostly in a bar after normal working hours.  The film was shot in Manhattan and in LA.

Frank was the piano singer who's too old for the rest of this crowd.  Chloe was tall, awkward, plain, and uninteresting on all counts.  Lindsey seemed to being 'taking one for the team' for a lot of teams.  Elizabeth was cute and flighty.  Chris taught school and looked for women at night.

The map of who is with whom is somewhat murky and changes considerably during the course of the film.  Unfortunately, the map goes from one set of mismatches to another set of mismatches.

Delineation of conflicts:
Choosing significant others seems to be a slow process, since the characters seem to be figuring out how they are making the decisions as they go.  In some cases, there is little conscious thought. Most of the pairings seem bad matches from the start.

Resolution:
So, what is this film about?  The decision making process? Does anyone learn something significant?
The film is slow moving.  Is it worth the wait until the end?

One line summary: Young idiots in lust.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 7/10 The whole film seems to have been shot in near darkness.  The cameras are fit for this, and most images are clear enough.

Sound: 5/10 The sound is uneven.  The actors are badly miked now and then.

Acting: 4/10 James Duval was quite wooden as the piano player/singer.  Jill Hoiles seemed like fish-out-of-water the whole time.  Lindsey is one-dimensional to the point where she never seems to connect to anyone other than physically.

Screenplay: 4/10 Motivation is problematic, and betrayals are many.  By the end of the movie, I did not care to keep up with any of the characters.  They would be changing their minds soon enough, but with no progression, no improvement, no redemption.  There was plenty of regret and confusion to make up for that.  Perhaps that was the point.  Three of the cast members give really fine musical performances at the end.  Seems that only came from suffering personally, 'paying their dues.'

Final Rating: 4/10