Bart Got a Room

Anything with William H. Macy is a winner but this clever, funny tale about a high school kid finding a date for prom brings it full circle. Both parents and kids will relate and enjoy this movie. It appeals to all ages. I especially liked the countdown time line to prom and all the various girls he tries to get to go with him. I highly recommend this film to watch again and again ! The background and staging are excellent. The sideline characters are also great and truly add to the film. The parents relationship with each other and finding new people to date is something divorced parents will find very amusing. The scene with the dad in his new apartment is priceless.

This movie is a lot tamer than such movies as "American Pie" where all the high school kids want to do is get laid before the end of the school year. And that is a good thing for this movie. The characters are for the most part innocent high schoolers who talk bigger than they plan to act. It revolves around Steven Kaplan as Danny Stein, of a Hollywood Florida Jewish family. Danny wants to get a "hot" date for prom but he really isn't a ladies man. When he decides that pretty sophomore cheerleader Alice, who he gives rides home from school, would fit his ideal, he messes up that conversation so badly that she looks at him as a pervert. The title of the movie comes from a sort of running joke, as the boys and their parents discuss whether they should also get a room at the hotel where the prom is. Every time someone mentions that "Bart Got a Room", then it settles the issue, because Bart Beeber is perhaps the most geeky guy in their class. We don't really ever need to meet Bart, but we do in a late scene. William H. Macy is in his usual fine form as the dad, Ernie Stein, and wearing a wig for a full head of curly hair. Cheryl Hines is good as the divorced wife and mom, Beth Stein. Danny has a best friend from early childhood, Alia Shawkat as Camille. Since Danny was NOT in a relationship, and neither was Camille, it would have made sense for them to go to prom together. In fact she was counting on it and was very disappointed when Danny rebuffed her suggestion. But much of the last half of the movie plays on their eventual patching up of their friendship. Not a very deep movie, but relatively clean as teen prom movies go and for the most part a good 80 minutes of entertainment.

It's always nice to see an unknown actor do something great. This is one of the many reasons I thoroughly enjoy the comedy, Bart Got A Room. An unknown actor, Steven Kaplan is great in this hilarious comedy as Danny, the 2nd biggest loser in school struggling to find a date for the prom. When the 1st bigger loser in school, Bart gets a date and a hotel room for prom, Danny feels it is his duty to automatically get a date for the prom. As his divorced dad, Ernie, William H. Macy steals the show. He certainly doesn't get all the big laughs, but he gets about 85% of them. Cheryl Hines is also quite good as Danny's divorced mom, Beth. The movie is a smart, refreshing, hysterical, and downright feel-good teen comedy. The movie is refreshing as it does not have the regular predictable teen romance, and the movie is sweet instead of aggressive like most teen comedies. I really like the chemistry between Danny and his parents, and between him and his friends. I loved how the movie is not a predictable romance but the opposite- a boy trying to find romance. Also, the whole cast is excellent, and it gives some great young actors a chance to show their talent. This is a great movie that I think you should definitely go see right away.

A sweet, high school, screwball-lite with a great ending, and some enduring one liners, and a delightful William H Macy. The look of the film is litter with nice, small details that make the whole thing feel more real. The score is subtle, with a nice whimsical element to it. I was expecting a silly, maybe fun, raunch fest, but was glad to see I got something more real, touching, and delightful. The ending, at the prom, detouring into a bar mitzvah is adorable, with a great voice over from the lead, who plays slightly pathetic underdog well. When Macy buys a hooker for Bart to take to the prom, it's funny as hell. All in all, all sorts of fun.

A great teen comedy that invokes the best films of John Hughes from the 80's, combined with the neuroses of Woody Allen. The Florida setting is something new and fresh and adds a really nice element to the entire film. William H Macy is hilarious, much funnier than he gets to be in other movies. The lead kid is hysterical, a combination of Woody Allen, Larry David, and Jerry Seinfeld all rolled into one. And the hilarious Cheryl Hines from Curb Your Enthusiasm is also in it, playing the lead kid's mom. Not that I'm a prude, because I love Judd Apatow humor just as much as the next guy, but it's nice to see a movie that can be funny without having to be dirty in order to do it. For anyone who ever had to deal with the hell that is prom night, you don't want to miss this!!!!!!!!!

Danny Stein, an earnest young man, is the son of divorced parents. His best friend Camille and Danny are involved in the school television channel where they comment on the upcoming events and school activities. Like all seniors of his age group, Danny has been looking to that special night where he will have a chance to boogie with his classmates and afterward, if he gets lucky, he will score with the girl of his dreams. The problem is Danny does everything wrong and ultimately finds himself dateless for the big night. Why, even the nerdy Bart got a room that was upgraded to a suite! Brian Hecker, the writer of this mildly funny comedy, also directed. He knows these teens well, yet, the final product is not as good as some of its parts. Mr. Hecker main contribution is the atmosphere he creates around the residents of Hollywood, Florida. There are always older folks anywhere the film takes us. Yet, the action is centered among the younger crowd. Stephen Kaplan shows a good affinity for the material. Best of all in the film is William H. Macy, an actor's actor. He plays Ernie Stein, the swinging divorced man looking for love in all the wrong places. His Ernie sports a permanent, although he is balding, yet, he never misses a chance to make a pass at a pretty girl. Cheryl Hines, of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" fame, is seen as Danny's mother, now in a relationship with an older man, who appears will be her salvation. We enjoyed Alia Shawkat, who plays Camille; she's Danny's best friend, but unfortunately, Danny doesn't realize it until it's too late.

A modest little independent comedy that would like to be quirky but doesn't quite know how to be, Bart's Got a Room isn't about Bart at all – although he does make a couple of brief appearances. The fact he has got a room (for the school prom) is used as a benchmark against which our young hero Danny can measure how badly he has failed in his attempts to get a date for that bizarre American ritual called prom night. Of course, as an aside, it's true that inappropriately extravagant prom nights are no longer an exclusively American custom: having adopted the 'extortion with threats' routine known as Trick or Treat, the 350-channel TV (342 of which you will never watch), and the 'no win-no fee' legal representation when our own stupidity causes us to injure ourselves while at work, the Americanisation of Britain continues apace with our school-kids now dressing up and hiring rented limousines for their 'school leaver's disco.' I am absolutely certain that before my life is over Britain will be celebrating every fourth of July. Anyway, Danny has had a loyal friend for ten years who just happens to be a pleasant – but not spectacularly beautiful or popular – girl who would love him to ask her to the prom. He also has a mother who is on the verge of marrying a decent but unsuitable man and a father who is desperately seeking love on the internet. Now, given this template it isn't difficult to figure out how this film is going to end. That doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing though, as long as the journey to that predictable conclusion is an original and entertaining one. Sadly, Bart's Got a Room is only partially successful. Many of the incidents here have been seen countless times before (although usually handled with less sensitivity). The film seeks to make points about the futility and self-defeating nature of trying too hard to find the perfect mate, and it does this in a straightforward manner, but it's a message that most of us innately understand from youth, anyway – and those that don't are usually still struggling to find that perfect one thirty years after their prom date and will never listen to messages like this. While there's nothing wrong with preaching the message, it's hardly an earth-shattering revelation, and you can't help thinking that surely the filmmakers could find something a little more insightful to build a film around. The performances are pretty good. William Macy stands out (as usual) as our hero's father who, sporting a perm from hell, strives to find a perfect mate while refusing to accept that, just maybe, he used to be married to her. Jon Polito is also good as mum's new beau, striking just the right level of likability for the role. The film's running time is fairly brief and it has its moments, but the end result doesn't measure up to its potential.

This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. The only usage of this film is for guidelines how not to do it, or eventually torture. It amazes me how bad this plot actually is, one would almost expect it to be a *. It's so predictable that you'll know what's going to happen in every scene after you've watched it for 10 minutes(The worst part is that this is a fact). How this got up to a 5.9 rating is beyond me and I've now lost my trust in IMDb when it comes to comedies. Simply the fact that the producers calls this film a comedy is an insult to the genre. Avoid this movie at all costs, even if your dying girlfriends last wish is to see this movie with you, it's still not worth it, not even close.

Looking back at this film, there are quite a number of scenes that seem as if they, and the movie that they are in, should be superb. Actually watching the scenes, and watching the film as a whole however, the effect is rather lackluster. Objectively, I can't say that the movie is a bad one, and some people will probably love, it, but for many or most people, I suspect that the film will not live up to its potential. Its difficult to say exactly why, but I can nominate three potential reasons. 1. Comparative lack of comedic follow-through. In many comedic scenes in film, you can see an embarrassing situation emerging a few seconds or minutes before the specific situation ends. Rather than playing each scene through from beginning to bitter end, 'Bart Got A Room" tends to lay out the scene, and clip off the last uncomfortable moments. This device does not render the scenes unfunny, and it could make the film a bit more subtle. "Bart Got A Room" is not the most exciting or unpredictable film however, and the closely trimmed scene endings make the movie more boring. 2. A vast proportion of the world's humor comes from people and the world as a whole not living up to expectations. Much humor represents an idealistic implicit criticism of these failures and imperfections. The creators of this film seem to embrace, rather than criticize imperfection however, particularly in the ending, and not so much by defiantly embracing an alternate standard of perfection, but by saying that "hey, settling for ______ is okay." Obviously the difference between different sorts of acceptance (of imperfection) are subtle, but but this film seems to be more "settle for it" than usual, and the implicit lack of idealism leads to less ideal-driven humorous criticism. 3. This film has a very clear Florida setting and cultural identity, and ordinarily this would be a strict virtue, adding a bit of realism instead of pretending to a placeless universality. Unfortunately, the film is so subtle/dull overall, that the setting and specific characterization overwhelms the overall story and other elements to a degree. Most likely the filmmakers should have made the story and characters a bit more interesting, rather than make the background less interesting, but something should have been done.

Written and directed by Brian Hecker, "Bart Got a Room" is a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age tale set in south Florida where high school geek Danny Stein won't be in the demographic majority for another fifty years yet. A good Jewish boy, Danny is all excited about attending his senior prom - or at least he would be if he could get the hot sophomore he drives to school every day to agree to go as his date. Unfortunately, she thinks of him merely as an older-brother type, so Danny is forced to look elsewhere for options, including the Plain Jane Camille (Alia Shawkat), who's been his best friend since childhood and obviously wishes Danny felt about her the way she feels about him. Danny also has to contend with the fact that his soon-to-be-divorced parents (wonderfully played by William H. Macy and Cheryl Hines) are already in the market for future spouses and that they keep the understandably mortified youngster continually posted on their dating progress. Though in terms of plotting there's little that separates "Bart Got a Room" from countless other films in the same genre, the movie finds a wealth of truth and humor in its deadpan depictions of ordinary life. Bart and all the figures who inhabit his world go through their days just trying to make the best of bad situations, searching for that one little nugget of happiness that will make the crushing banality of the rest of their lives at least tolerable, if not worthwhile. For Danny, it's getting a date for the prom and meeting an attractive girl who will reciprocate his romantic interest; for his parents, it's trying to get that one last stab at coupled attachment in a world where youth is prized above all else and where they're faced with a daily reminder of what awaits them in their fast-approaching "golden years;" for Camille, it's trying to get the boy she's attracted to to see her as a burgeoning woman with sexual appetites and not just a platonic buddy to study and hang out with. "Bart Got a Room" nicely captures the exaggerated nature of teenage trauma, when showing up dateless to the prom is a personal tragedy comparable only to the crash of the Hindenburg or the sinking of the Titanic. And Steve Kaplan perfectly conveys every bit of the angst Danny experiences as he maneuvers his way through those shark-infested waters known as adolescence.