A Case of You

This is a pretty good movie if there was an app to write movies using a vast template of clichés, stereotypes and characters and scenes you've seen a few thousand times before. It's not awful and its very well put together. Almost flawless. Technically it's like the robot version of a movie. And without irony, snarky, self criticism either. And to be fair it has some pretty funny small moments. And in a way it's refreshing to see a technically soulless perfect execution of an idea in an era of awful indie anarchist hipster junk still doing bad sound, shaky cam, weak lighting and an incoherent story. But if you're looking for either something very good or new or interesting or even high drama, sitcom level high drama then no. You'll be disappointed. The machine isn't that sophisticated or adventurous for that. And that's a good thing because it will be entirely predictable, like comfort food.

source: A Case of You

Sam (Justin Long) lives in Manhattan and is a struggling writer. Mostly, he does novelizations of successful films, rather beneath his talent and ambitions. But, bills must be paid. Naturally, the city is an expensive place to live, so Sam has an eccentric roommate. One day, at a local coffee shop, Sam spies a beautiful barista, Birdie (Evan Rachel Wood). Its first-sight love, no doubt. However, when Sam tries to casually start a conversation, she doesn't seem interested. What to do? Well, this is the age of Facebook, after all, so Sam looks up her site. In her profile is a list of things she likes, such as ballroom dancing, judo, guitar music and the like. Now, here's a way into her good graces! Sam signs up for guitar lessons at once and the next time he approaches Birdie, he brings up topics he knows she will enjoy. It works! Soon, Birdie is amazed at how many of "their likes" are the same. Even though she gets fired from her barista job, Sam fins a way to see her, thanks to the new, gruff coffeemaker (Peter Dinklage). But, this is a dangerous game, is it not? What happens when either Birdie finds out Sam has different interests or Sam gets tired of pretending? This lovely story has two terrific stars. Long is boyishly handsome as ever, with a great sense of humor. Even better, Wood is utterly gorgeous and can turn an ordinary phrase into something special. What a fine duo they are! The supporting cast, too, is surprising, with Dinklage, Vince Vaughn, Sam Rockwell, Busy Phillips and others helping move the film along with zest. Viewers will enjoy the sets, Wood's fantastic costumes, the lively script, and the overall product. Beware, however, to a couple of risqué situations that will not go over well with all, including this viewer. Someday, perhaps, movies will be released with a PG and an R rated version, like Wide and Fullscreen. Until then, pick up the remote and fast forward through the upsetting scenes. But, slow down for the important parts of this lovely romantic comedy.

A reviewer said that our protagonist was basing his interest in the girl solely on looks. That is not true. He saw her every day interacting with customers at the coffee shop. He liked her spirit. Reviewers also can't understand why she would like our guy, especially since he was a faker. But you can't account for attraction. She saw the real him all along and liked it. Perhaps she was flattered that he made such an effort to accommodate her interests. Women have intuition that guides them in relationships. She liked him. Let's accept that and move on. Just Long's comedic timing was perfect in this one. It's like he was channeling Woody Allen without actually copying him. I also thought the cameos were fine. You had a fast-talking publisher, a gay midget coffee guy, an oafish ex-boyfriend, and a wacky guitar teacher, all played by stars. They were good. No one went over the top, which would have been very easy to do. I think the best thing in this one was the roommate and his girlfriend. I'm not familiar with either actor, but they were natural, funny, down-to-earth, and genuinely helpful. I don't know the lead girl, Ms. Wood, but she sure is lovely. If her character was not a child of hippies, she would have a jock boyfriend. There was so much potential for this flick to fall into "Indie" stereotypes with a soundtrack, self-conscious performances, existential philosophy, and some depressing commentary on life. But this one didn't do that. The quirky pixie girl actually turned out to be a solid person with a forgiving soul and plenty of patience. Although I would love to know how she supports herself. One thing to note is that all her interests are wildly Left Wing, but she does explain that being due to her parentage. But I guess you could say that the one "Indie" stereotype is that the characters almost always love Godless, artsy stuff, and like most rom-coms, they seem to always live in New York. Trust me folks, N.Y. is not romantic at all. It's dirty, dangerous, crowded, and smelly. Good movie. Not particularly memorable, but worth a date night. Enjoy.

How is it even possible to write a protagonist as unlikeable as Sam? First he decides to manipulate his dream girl Birdie (who, by the way, is his dream girl based solely on her looks since he's never talked to her but only stared creepy and longingly at her over his daily coffee) by memorizing her facebook. Then, when he seems to succeed, he flips out and shames Birdie for HIS actions, doing everything but physically abuse her. Then, for reasons unknown to anyone except for the script writers, Birdie chooses Sam anyway. And the audience is supposed to root for them. When, in the pretend-reality that follows an ending like this, Sam continues to verbally abuse and control Birdie based on his jealous imagination and complete lack of self esteem (because he will) I can only hope she ups and leaves him.

Sam (Justin Long) is a weary writer who novelizes movies. He turns already made movies into novels. He is smitten with the coffee shop girl Birdie Hazel (Evan Rachel Wood). So he uses her Facebook profile to bone up on all her favorites. This is co-written by Justin Long. He's playing his try and true awkward uncomfortable character. There are a lot of great actors. Peter Dinklage, Sam Rockwell and Brendan Fraser are all going out of their way to play wild crazy characters. It would have been better if one of them played the bigger character of the best friend. Of course they were probably just doing Justin a favor. Evan Rachel Wood is lovely but she's not the rom-com type. There are mildly amusing performances. The central concept is a good idea to write a movie around. The ending is quite cheesy. The movie needs much better writing. It makes me appreciate how hard comedy is.

Review: Man, this film was extremely boring! It's a simple case of boy meets girl, boy likes girl, boy goes on Facebook to find out about girl, boy realises that he is doing everything to please the girl to woo her, boy comes clean about not being himself and then they fall into each other's arms. I was expecting a romantic comedy with some jokes, but it's totally not funny and it just seems to drag after a while. Justin along was really dull in this movie and he didn't even attempt any witty lines. He just moans through the whole film, which is surprising as he actually made it himself. The impressive cast list got wasted because there not really in the movie that much, so you end up watching Sam, the main character, making a big deal out of a simple loving relationship. Waste Of Time! Round-Up: Brendan Fraser, Sam Rockwell and Vince Vaughn must have done this movie as a favour to Justin Long because I can't really see them reading the script and thinking to themselves "I Must Be In This Movie" because it's really not that good. It's obvious that Justin Long isn't that great at playing the lead because he was annoying in Die Hard 4.0 and pretty annoying in this movie. I was hoping for a light hearted comedy with loads of funny jokes, but I was totally disappointed. I recommend this movie to people who are into there Rom-Com's about a man who looks on Facebook to woo a girl and ends up doing everything for her whilst not being true to himself. 2/10

Remember when indie rom-coms - films made on a shoestring budget - were quirky, odd and refreshingly different from their Hollywood brethren? Those days, it seems, are long past. Truthfully, you'd be hard-pressed to find anything beyond the conventional in A Case Of You, a slight, sweet romance that's passably entertaining but never fully engages on an emotional level. In this day and age of social media stalking, struggling writer Sam (Justin Long) decides to study up on just about anything and everything his sun-kissed barista Birdie (Evan Rachel Wood) has liked on Facebook. He's unwilling to really show the world who he is, you see, so he busies himself with guitar lessons, cooking classes and books he's never heard of. But, when things start to get serious, Sam freaks out, realising that Birdie has no idea who he really is as a person. Scripted by Long, his brother Christian and Keir O'Donnell, A Case Of You is earnest and well-intentioned - for the most part, it even manages to steer clear of making Sam's studying of Birdie's Facebook page as creepy as it could be. It even adds a couple of nice moments when Sam lets his guard down and tells Birdie more about himself, which does lend some genuine credibility to their relationship. But it's all too predictable. As Sam blunders his way through classes, picking up approximately no new demonstrable skills and writing a brooding novel about his exploits (much creepier than Facebook- stalking), the film coasts along with hardly any narrative tension. It's tough also because Birdie, despite Wood's best efforts, comes across as your standard Manic Pixie Dream Girl: that stereotypically kooky sweetheart of a love interest who will melt and win even the hardest of hearts. It's a shame because this is Long's best work yet as an actor. He keeps Sam grounded, real and annoying at just the right moments. When Sam's painstakingly constructed illusion of happiness shatters before him, Long folds a lot of heartbreak into the tears shining in his eyes. He shares a fun chemistry with Wood, who might not be able to break free of the script but does at least get to show off her pipes in one of the film's better scenes. What's more telling is the fact that the most memorable bits of A Case Of You largely don't involve the two main characters. Instead, it's the cameos by a host of actors - no doubt pulled up from Long's own Facebook page - that provide the most laughs. Peter Dinklage, for one, is having the time of his life as Gerard, Birdie's oddball coffee-shop boss. The same goes for Sam Rockwell in the role of Sam's drug-addled guitar teacher. Over 15 years ago, You've Got Mail re-invented the romantic comedy in the wake of technological advancements such as e-mail and modem dial- ups. It's quaint now, of course, but it sparkles with a wit and romance that's largely missing from A Case Of You. The latter film may be timely, folding Facebook and its myriad pros and cons into a modern love story. But it's far from timeless - a fact most unfortunately underscored by its failure to secure the rights to the classic Joni Mitchell song after which it's named.

This another in a long line of films that begins with the rather absurd situation of a good looking guy or gal who can't get a date. In this case, when a young author, with self esteem issues, finally sees someone he likes, instead of just asking his soul mate out he devises a plan to assure her they have things in common via her Facebook profile. The guy played by the usually likable Justin Long, (will he ever top Zack and Miri?)who is so preoccupied with living the lie he created, then writing a book about it, he never really seems to be connected to his girl Evan Rachel Wood. He's too worried about the deception to really connect wih her. She, on the other hand, plays the role of woman falling for Justin...but you can't understand why. It's almost as if she's in the wrong movie. There's no chemistry between them. This could have been a fun film had the script, oddly wriitten by Long, had been more of a straight forward romance.

In the age of social media, dating has become infinitely more complicated, and the ability to pore over your loved one's Facebook profile or Twitter feed to find those little idiosyncracies that make them unique is something we've probably all experienced. But what happens when you start taking it a bit too far? Written by Justin Long (who also stars), A Case of You follows struggling writer Sam, whose daily trips to a local coffee shop have left him infatuated with the free-spirited Birdie (Evan Rachel Wood). Unfortunately, Birdie loses her job before Sam works up the nerve to ask her out, but never fear - with a little bit of Facebook stalking, Sam can not only find out where she'll be next, he can also begin molding himself into her ideal match. Yes, it sounds more than a little creepy, but Long is charming and charismatic enough to keep us interested, and Sam's willingness to put himself into incredibly awkward situations in order to impress Birdie result in some humorous exchanges. There are also a few laugh-out-loud moments that come courtesy of Keir O'Donnell as Sam's roommate and Peter Dinklage as a flamboyantly sassy barista. While amusing at times, A Case of You doesn't stray far from the typical romantic comedy template: boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy learns important life lesson and tries to win girl back. The chemistry between Long and Wood is believable, and watching them together is far from boring, but the film never aspires to be more than a paint-by-numbers affair. It's a decent first effort for screenwriter Long, but certainly nothing that reinvents the genre. -- Brent Hankins, www.nerdrep.com