Charlie Countryman

Charlie Countryman (Shia LaBeouf) is an aimless young man. His mother (Melissa Leo) dies and her spirit tells him to go to Bucharest to live his life. On the plane there, an old man next to him dies. He meets the old man's beautiful daughter Gabi (Evan Rachel Wood). He falls for her despite her dark jealous violent husband Nigel (Mads Mikkelsen). Shia looks like a drugged out homeless guy. I don't get it, but some find it sexy. I wish he would clean up a bit. Then there is Evan Rachel Wood's eastern European accent. It is extremely distracting. I rather have a Romanian actress who speaks broken English. Luckily there is Mads. I love his menacing demeanor. He is scary just by looking at you. The movie depends a lot on Shia and Evan. I didn't like either of them in this. Between Shia's disheveled look and Evan's annoying accent, I couldn't get into this pairing. And the stuff with the ruffians isn't that interesting. The only funny joke is told by the ambulance driver in Romanian. It's a mess of unlikeable characters that I didn't care much about.

This movie is just boring. Probably that was a sort of Romania Travel board advertising movie but i'm not sure. Scenario jumps from travel promo to love drama and then to something else like unstoppable and broken roller-coaster. The only one thing kept me watching was LaBeouf, he's definitely a really good actor. Anyway, his acting doesn't save "The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman". This movie reminds me a "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" in some ways but if Mitty tries to be a sort of didactic movie full of banality, Charly Countryman doesn't try to be anything except a pointless movie with bunch of good actors. It's worth watching if you're a fan of slow-paced movies with no plot, i simply didn't like this one.

As I found out along the way, the only movies which can depict a country are the ones made in that country, but the Americans could have done their homework... at least. We, Romanians, have better English accents and know English better than some of the English speakers, so EPIC FAIL on that. Secondly Bucharest is an interesting place, a kind of love and hate, organic city and the movie caught none of that. EPIC FAIL no.2. The role of a Romanian should be played by a Romanian. I like Rachel Wood, but she seriously didn't study any of our culture. E.F.3. Overall the movie didn't create any kind of atmosphere for me, disregarding the rest of the points above. The acting was not very good and the story lacks continuity and it's not even close to believable. Good luck on watching yet another movie....

People often wonder why actors are paid millions of dollars for movies, and the reason is name recognition. This film I never heard of, but because Shia LaBeouf is in it; Evan Rachel Wood, who I haven't seen in anything for some time; Rupert Grint; and Melissa Leo, I gave it a chance. And, I'm quite glad I did. Characters & Story The story focuses on one Charlie Countryman (played by Shia LaBeouf) whose mother Kate (played by Melissa Leo) has just died. So, with his mother's post-mortem advice, he ends up going off to Bucharest. On his way he meets the father of Gabi (played by Evan Rachel Wood) who dies on the plane ride over, but through him knowing her dad, something sparks. However, with Gabi having a complicated relationship with her ex Nigel (played by Mads Mikkelsen) she doesn't seem free to date. Thus leading us on a wild tale of Charlie meeting two crazy guys, one of which played by Rupert Grint, and him ending up in some weird situation with the mob. All of which gives you this crazy thriller, with a romantic plot sewed in, which is so insane. Yet, at the same time so good. Praise There is so much to praise in this film. The music was well done and set a beautiful tone, the places they filmed were beautiful and showed both the side of Eastern Europe, Bucharest - Romania specifically, that we are used to seeing in horror films, yet at the same time showing us the beauty of a country which has gone through so much over the centuries. Then there is the writing which has one or two hiccups, but for the most part is something easy to understand, with a tad a of mystery, but overall really gives the actors a lot to work with. LaBeouf makes a great lead and shows that the years of doing Transformers has prepped him for handling a film like this; Wood pulls off a Eastern accent well enough so that while she does sound like how we are often told Eastern Europeans sound like, it doesn't seem like she is mocking their people, but truly is trying to be one of them. Then there is Mikkelsen. His performance was on the level of a Bond villain. He was crazy passionate about a woman who once was in love with him and would go mad if anyone tried to take her from him. Also, he had this really cool background, of which not a huge amount of details were given, but god he seemed like such a bad ass. At the same time though, he maintained that same cool and cold demeanor that he has on Hannibal. I would say, though perhaps it wouldn't be best for his career, that he could easily typecast himself as a villain for the rest of his career and make a lot of money doing it. Especially since Hollywood hasn't really moved on from having the villain being someone from Eastern Europe/ Russia completely yet. Criticism Which leads to the one thing I didn't get about this film. Three times in the film we see Charlie talk to a dead person. Twice being his mom, and one time he speaks with the corpse of Gabi's father, and I wondered why only those two did he ever speak to. And while the lack of clarity with Nigel was good for the character, us never learning if Charlie had a gift or something just seemed weird. I mean, if he simply talked to his mom then it would have made sense since he would be grieving, but with him talking to Gabi's father, that complicated things and left us with a guy who maybe a medium, but only uses said power 3 times. Overall: Worth Seeing It is weird to feel a sort of rush after seeing a movie. Maybe it is because I haven't watched a thriller in a really long time, but god was this movie the best thing to reintroduce me to the genre. Pretty much, to me anyway, everything was on point and outside of the odd character trait Charlie has with speaking with the dead, there isn't anything really to pick on. So, that is why I'm saying it is worth seeing.

WARNING! SPOILER ALERT! I would like to begin my review by saying I really wanted to like this movie despite the fact that I do not like Shia LaBeouf nor do I recognize him as a serious actor. I will say that the casting of the movie is very bizarre and doesn't work. I didn't feel there was no chemistry let alone love between the Gabi the girl that Shia falls for and him. Mads Mikkelsen as the bad mob boyfriend and Ion Caramitru as Gabi's father. It seemed to me like all of the cast was randomly put together by no criteria whatsoever ,just mixed them in a blender and taste the mess that is this movie. I think that is the best way to describe what I have just witnessed. It made me cringe seeing how strongly Russian was Evan Rachael Wood accent ( isn't that the same as Romanian?) and how I feel we didn't see her character at all ( I mean her as an individual not on screen she was on screen enough). It felt like the story focused a lot on Shia but forgot to show us more and the viewers to get to know Evan's character. I can't help but wonder why could Charlie see his dead mom and Gabi's dead father but no one else's? Why there was no mentioning of this at all? Why did his dead mom sent him to Bucharest? Why no reasons for it? Evan Rachael Wood is a great actress but this movie choice was a poor one. I believe she didn't connect to the character( I couldn't help but wonder but I didn't see her pain of loosing her father on screen at all) the script was so poorly that she had nothing to work with. Mads Mikkelsen is the only good thing in this movie apart from his accent which he tries to get rid of but he really can't . He does what he can with the role as there isn't much to work with. Darko the other mob guy seemed to be pretty insignificant in the story and didn't really understand why he was in it. Another 2 characters that were throwed in the mix were Karl and Luc those Englishmen. Why were their names Karl and Luc though? One sounds German and one french. At the end when Gabi shoots Charlie why didn't Nigel kill Charlie seeing that Gabi didn't actually shoot him and let him live? Charlie knew about the tape ( a VHS Tape so 80's ) and would have told the police about it. Instead, Nigel pretends to simulate shooting a cop with his fingers and ends up dead. I don't think this scene could have been more pathetic. This movie could have been alright if it wouldn't have been lacking so many important things like good characters and an actual plot. What was the plot? Charlie falls for this Romanian girl and almost ends up dead because of her and her mob boyfriend. And the bit where it actually writes the end surrounded by some strange blueish stuff( no clue to what it is, kinda looks like someone's soul see dead mom's scene) is so random. I am Romanian and maybe my English is not that great but it's OK neither was Evan Rachael Wood accent in the movie. I really liked her in True Blood and Thirteen so I did wanted to like this . Mads Mikkelsen is a decent actor and is OK in this role but that's pretty much all.

Nigh on impossible to categorize, kookier than a Tim Burton Halloween party, an at times borderline incoherent shambles and a film destined for a life time in the Cult selection of cinema, Fredrik Bond's energetic and unique The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman is an absolute blast of fresh air that despite all its many faults and inadequacies is a film well worth tracking down for its undeniable charms and ability to never conform to expectations. The story at the centre of Charlie Countryman feels no need to adhere to much formal structure or the ABC's of movie storytelling and fly's the line between being a straight up drama, a love story, a frenetic thriller and some type of modern day fairy tale where the dead talk and Mads Mikkelsen wears a vast array of insane shirts with a highlight being his sausage dog getup. Charlie's journey to Bucharest is undertaken because his dead mum told him to go there and once there the story continues to surprise, frustrate and involve in equal measure and Bond has such a keen eye for not only the eye-popping visual (a scene where Charlie and his new friends Luc and Carl played by the Inbetweeners Buckley and a very naughty wizard in the form of Grint first party a particular highpoint) but a great feel for the pace and structure of the film that you can't help but go along with all its craziness and you'll find yourself asking internally "since when has Shia LaBeouf been so tolerable?". In a role that showcases a talent that is missing far too often in his other projects LaBeouf delivers here in what could be his best role outside of kids classic Holes. Charlie is clearly a messed up person and LaBeouf plays him to perfection with the right amount of vulnerability, smarts and craziness that while hard to relate to is always watchable. LaBeouf is well supported by the other cast members and in particular by a menacing Mads Mikkelsen who continues to impress in everything he does. Mikkelsen's role of drug dealing gangster Nigel is a strange one but fits in well with the films tone. Evan Rachael Wood is perhaps the films weak link in a role that doesn't exactly click in the ways we needed for the love story to be more involving. Not for everyone and as stated early filled with many various faults The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman is also more enjoyable the countless other films released on a week to week basis. A fine debut film by director Bond and a role that shows LaBeouf can in fact act and act well, Charlie Countryman should be sort out but perhaps not by Harry Potter fans who wish to remember Ron Weasley as a clean cut ginger wizard not a budding adult movie star called Boris Pecker. 3 and a half hard partying Ronald Weasley's out of 5 For more movie reviews and opinions check out - www.jordanandeddie.wordpress.com

The movie is good, balanced and colorful with deep emotion bathing and fast pace, makes your heart race. I really enjoyed it. But Bucharest is NOTHING like depicted in this movie. Bucharest is just like any other modern city in Europe. I was born here and I HAVE NEVER SEEN a group of gypsies just sitting on the ground like in one or two of the scenes in this movie. I found myself wondering if they really shot some of the scenes here. It looked kind of like India. ENOUGH with the gypsies already! This city.. pardon, this country is not about the gypsies, never been, never will be. Just a few rodents. Every city has its portion of rodents. Let's not make movies with them, shall we? PS. where did they get a trabant ? :) Been a while since I saw one of that around here. (10 years or so)

This. movie. is. horrible. Shia's performance was great (and the score was pretty cool-props to Beck and Deadmono), but the 'hollywood-esque' portrayal of Romanian culture is so far away from the truth it makes me barf. Romania is not just filled with gangs, drugs, and gypsies. In fact, it's everything BUT that. Romania is a country that has a rich history and a beautiful culture steeped in old traditions. It isn't some gang banging country...and it sure as hell isn't this 'openly James-Bond-esque' corrupt. It is beautiful. The people behind this film made it out to be some kind of horrible hell-hole. And it's not. Oh, and another thing that makes this movie so bad: the only Romanian guy in this whole movie dies within the 1st 2 minutes, and the 'Romanian Beauty' lead ISN'T EVEN FREAKING ROMANIAN. It's not like they could've, oh I don't know, HIRED A ROMANIAN ACTRESS TO PLAY A ROMANIAN? No...that'd be too hard wouldn't it? It's not like Romania is filled with competent people who can act just as well as any American or Brit. SERIOUSLY PEOPLE??? I sincerely wish Romania got a better representation in Hollywood...but it's because of people like these that everybody has a negative connotation to it. What a shame...the country is so beautiful. Oh and also, P.S., Evan Rachel Wood should've gotten a hand double for the cello. I know her playing was only in one scene but it was noticeable that she didn't know how to play. At all.

I wanted to like this film...but I couldn't because every time protagonist Shia LaBoeuf made a move it was the wrong one with bad results. I mean this isn't a comedy, but his actions were almost slapstick even though they were in serious violent situations. Here's an American who travels to an unlikely foreign country. He's no Don Juan, he can't fight, has no weapons to protect himself yet is terribly stupid, unable to articulate anything,continually getting the stuffing knocked out of him and looks like a drug addict. I mean here's a guy who during his first two days in a foreign country is continually wearing I player earphones. Yet we are suppose to buy that he's the soul mate of a hot concert cellist, whose already married to a local psychopathic killer. Other than La Boeuf's character this is a rather trite love story. Yet, besides LaBoeuf and Evan Wood, the impressive cast list is rather a con job since most are small unimportant cameo parts.

Director Fredrik Bond and writer Matt Drake are new to the game of cinema and it shows – in ways both good and not so good. The original title of this little adventure in Bucharest was THE NECESSARY DEATH OF CHARLIE COUNTRYMAN: they should have stuck with that. Charlie (Shi LaBeouf) is a scruffy sad e-eyed lad who at his mother's (Melissa Leo) deathbed with her current paramour Bill (Vincent D'Onofrio – in only a few minutes of inconsequential screen time): mother dies, but appears in a vision extracting a promise for Charlie to go to Bucharest to mend his grief. Charlie hops on a plane, sits next to an old Romanian Victor (Ion Caramitru) with whom he bonds before Victor dies in flight: another vision – Victor asks Charlie to deliver a silly hat to his daughter Gabi (Evan Rachel Wood) in Bucharest. Once Charlie is in Bucharest, having survived airport investigation, he gets conflicting data from a taxi driver (Gabriel Spahiu) and is delivered to a youth hostel where he shares a room with tow losers – Karl (Rupert Grint) and Luc (James Buckley) – who introduce him to Ecstasy. Charlie is already on the bad side of the crime world for wanting to deliver Victor's gift to Gabi and is at the mercy of Nigel (Mads Mikkelsen) and Darko (Til Schweiger) who are covering up some criminal problem. Charlie meets Gabi, a cellist with the Bucharest Opera who happens to be married to Nigel, and of course he falls in love beginning an endless chase sequence by the mob that involves Gabi, Nigel, Darko and assorted thugs. The ending is in the original title….maybe…. A great movie this is not, but its twisted plot, incorporation of visions from the dead, and brisk action captured in a very strange but exciting light by cinematographer Roman Vasyanov and a strange atmospheric musical score by Christophe Beck keep the movie intriguing. And it is tough to cast Mads Mikkelsen, Til Schweiger, Melissa Leo, and yes, Shia LaBeouf and Evan Rachel Wood and not expect to see some moments of excellent acting. As an evening's diversion, given the fact that it is the initial outing by both director and writer, it is worth watching.