Band Aid

source: Band Aid

This movie was comedy versus drama mediated perfectly with music. A wonderful film.

This movie is actually not as typical and usual as i thought it would be. my expectations when i decide to watch this movie is that it would be somehow corny with a predictable ending. and i must say i am wrong and right. let me explain okay, i will start off by saying everything i really appreciate about this movie. first, that this movie could go wrong at some point. it could be just like another typical comedy romance movie but it's not. i really like how this movie handle and focus on just the one subject that is a broken marriage. the band is just a way to fix the broken marriage and i'm happy that they didn't went off rails from the one big theme. when they brought up the record deal i could see how they could go that way and end this movie with them having the record deal and them finally figure their passion and it fixes everything and i hate if that happens, which to be honest happens in a lot movie. but i'm so thankful that they didn't and i actually love the ending. i also love how it doesn't shove things right in your face. it expect you to pick up the little things the characters said and behave for the audience to acknowledge something and it unravels pretty greatly in this movie. now, my main problem about this movie is how it's so held back. this movie want the audience to believe that it's a broken marriage, and they constantly have big fights but i don't get that, really. their fights are tame and very held back. the performances are generally great, but i think if they let loose and just have the fights in a better, more realistic way, it would be better. like, when i watched the fights i don't feel any tension except probably the last big fight, which doesn't impress me because it's supposed to be the big climax of the story and it's just okay. and it's affecting me throughout the entire thing because the fight is the main problems, right? but the fights are so underwhelming and it's very scripted, and look like it's scripted which doesn't make me really believe in the characters' pain which is such a shame because i think the two main characters are already great and somehow likeable.

Band Aid is a musical comedy that starts off very light hearted, fun and quirky but ends up discussing genuine marital issues, what it means to be in a long term relationship with someone and getting over loss. All the while incorporating great, entertaining music. Starring Zoe Lister-Jones, Adam Pally and Ravi Patel the cast captures their respective characters very well, the two leads initially managing to capture the constant bickering of long married couples brilliantly in an almost too mundane but authentic way. While also managing the tenderness and genuinity of their relationship in several scenes that shows the love and care between the two. The film's first half is indeed quirky and fun as the characters from this band and begin singing about their arguments and what they hate about each other. There is a growing debate between the two as Pally's Ben considers himself a realistic and Lister-Jones' Anna is the 'dreamer' this conflict of characters drives most of the drama and conflict of the film but is also what ends up bringing them together towards the end of the film where the film takes a more serious turn discussing the ideas of meeting a middle ground and of compromise. Band Aid is a fun microcosmic view of human romantic relationships, a meditation of what it means to be with someone and issues of loss and the role of emotions. While also managing to discuss gender roles and the different ideologies that men as men hold and women as women hold, there is something very tender, soft but philosophical in the discussions of the film. Making Band aid a feel-good type watch that isn't taxing at all, a very easy watch.

This movie starts out fun and funny, likeable characters. But it gets slow in the middle exploring the couple's relationship, which is too generic to be interesting. I was hoping for a funny payoff. Some of the songs relied on gender stereotypes, they were cute, but, be warned, this movie turns into a lecture on 'this is how men are and this is how women are', towards the end, literally and metaphorically, and it tries to justify its outdatedness so awkwardly by saying some people like transgender or gay people are different, but this is for the most part how it is, accept it. Generic and, it completely stops being funny half way through. You have been warned.

Anna (Zoe Lister-Jones) and Ben (Adam Pally) are a couple fighting about everything. They are struggling. She suggests turning their fights into songs. They start a garage band with their sex-addict neighbor Dave (Fred Armisen). Anna and Ben have some fun back and forth with Hitler jokes. I don't particularly like anybody else nor do I truly hate any of them. It's a lot of quirky hipster Hollywood and not necessarily that funny. It's especially true for Fred Armisen. He's trying too hard for my taste. I also don't like the songs. I struggle with that whole side of the movie. I like Zoe and Adam. The movie hints quite forcefully early on about a great lost. It's revealed later on but an earlier reveal would have been better. It's not that shocking and it hung over the movie for the first half. Once revealed, the relationship has some terrific emotional scenes. There is something in this pairing but the surrounding elements don't always work.

A constantly bickering couple frustrated with their menial jobs form a band with their weird neighbor when they decide to use music as a creative outlet. The content of their fights is turned into vacuous lyrics and set to mediocre music, but we'll eventually learn that this is just their way of avoiding discussion of the real conflicts tearing their marriage apart. In order to enrich the viewing experience, the movie also provides an educational lecture to inform us that woman tend to be more open then men in expressing their emotions. You know those commercials where chatty young urbanites engage in fluid conversation while a shaky camera quickly cuts from one intimate angle to another? Insipid music plays in the background to emphasize the drama and in the end it turns out to be a sales pitch for something completely unrelated, like shampoo or an on-line brokerage. Now imagine that the commercial lasts for 90 minutes. The movie does have some very good funny moments when it isn't trying to be serious and it even has a few good serious moments when it isn't trying to be funny, but together it just doesn't add up. I suppose there must be people to whom this style of film appeals, but I'm obviously not one of them

I'm giving this a "10" not Bc it's among the cinematic classes, but it's among the best rom coms I've ever seen, certainly in the last 5-7 years. I'm not really a fan of Zoe Lister-Jones as a human, her social media is seriously the definition of narcism and my life never has any problems, I'm happy all the time. Having said that, this is just a very well written and shot movie. Adam Pally and Fred Armisen are both great. There's more than a couple laugh out loud moments. It's unique and quirky and the original music is clever af. I'm a dude btw, and I didn't even watch this with my Girl, but I showed it to her after I saw it and it absolutely got me laid, to a very dope degree; and isn't that the reason anyone watches a rom com in the first place when you really get down to it? Really enjoyed this flick with or without the complimentary sex.

Apparently reviews have a minimum length, however my review requires just two words. The feels

This film was such a pleasant surprise. It was really refreshing to watch two people who could be from my life and to have conversations that seemed real. Not clichéd or cheesy. The chemistry between the lead characters is incredible. I had to google to see if they really were in a relationship! Much enjoyed Friday night in, kind of uplifting film.