Listen Up Philip

source: Listen Up Philip

Review: This film is awful! The storyline is all over the place and I totally lost interest after a while. I think that it's about a novelist who is due to bring out his second book. After the success of his first novel, his ego is boosted to a point were he is rude to people, including his girlfriend who is also a established photographer. I understood the movie up to that point but the director took the plot down many avenues which became confusing. I ended up falling asleep a few times because I was completely bored and I hated the way that the movie was shot. You've got this annoying jazz music throughout the film and the narrating just brought more confusion to the whole project. I would have been able to put up with tone and pace of the film if it was slightly funny but I really didn't find it amusing at all. At the end of the day, it really has to go down as a bad day at the office for Jonathan Pryce and Jason Schwartzman, who usually make good movies but this one was really boring and a total disappointment. Rubbish! Round-Up: I can't believe that I wasted 2 hours of my life on this poor movie. The movie was directed by Alex Ross Perry who brought you Impolex, The Color Wheel, The Sixth Year and Queen of Faith, which I have never heard of before. I wasn't that impressed with his style of direction or the grainy camera-work which became annoying after a while. The acting wasn't bad from Schwartzman, who was great in Saving Mr. Banks and Darjeeling Unlimited but this film was a terrible choice. I'm sure that the director has quite a few fans of his work because he does have a unique style, but I really struggled with it. Jonathan Pryce, who recently joined the Game Of Thrones series, was a complete waste in this film but he obviously found something interesting in the script to take on the project. Anyway, I think you can tell that I really didn't enjoy this movie so I will stop putting it down. I recommend this movie to people who are into their comedy/dramas about a novelist who seeks inspiration from another author, to bring out his second novel. 1/10

LISTEN UP PHILIP (2014) *** Jason Schwartzman, Elisabeth Moss, Jonathan Pryce, Krysten Ritter, Josephine de La Baume (Narrator : Eric Bogosian) Schwartzman had a field day in his best performance since RUSHMORE as an angry, egotistical, mean-spirited and obnoxious NYC writer who finds life pretty much unbearable in spite of his recent success in the publication of his second novel. Along the way he is befriended by a fellow, mellower misanthropic author of well-reknown (Pryce equally giving snide goods) who offers his mentorship - and country home - for his young charge to use in his writings and in the process destroying his most recent relationship with an ambitious photographer (Moss marveling in a complex and winning performance) amidst his selfishness. Filmmaker Alex Ross Perry's nimble direction and clean screenplay has its share of the impossible made possible : having a jerk protagonist actually be sympathetic while not compromising his unique arch demeanor.

Very ambitious movie with strong performances, very literary screenplay, unique mix of dark humor and drama. The highlight for me was Ike Zimmerman played by Jonathan Pryce - he was a delight to watch, very darkly charming character, combining anger, narcissism and pettiness with kind of a misanthropic wisdom and genuine warmth toward a protagonist played by Jason Schwartzman. I appreciated the way movie switched from character to character and changed tone, but honestly for me and most people I watched it with the Ashley section wasn't as interesting as parts with main protagonist and his older mentor. But I respected the fact movie wanted to try more then stick with dark comedy of Philip and Ike sections - and also all parts of the movie veer expertly shot and cut, had great music and were a pleasure to watch.

Listen Up Philip is a messy character-driven piece in which, oddly enough, the narration is the best part of the film. This is not a film for everyone. The two male leads are pretentious fools that, despite all of their knowledge, lack any true wisdom and consistently make terrible choices. By the end, it's difficult to even feel any pity for them. The female characters, on the other hand, are the saving grace of the story and the actresses are terrific in their roles. It's far from a typical storyline. Even with the narration, it's hard to say what the plot is, if there is one at all. The film has us enter and exit these characters lives at their most sad, desperate and difficult. Some will find it to be an insightful dark comedy while others will find it to be a pointless, drab drama that is frustrating to watch. The most bothersome aspect is the unsteady hand-held camera work, which comes and goes needlessly. Listen Up Philip is like only reading the middle chapters of a novel. Fans of Noah Baumbach, Wes Anderson and Woody Allen's films may find a lot to enjoy here but if you're not a fan of character studies, this won't be for you.

Writer/director Alex Ross Perry doesn't have much of an ear for natural-sounding dialogue, which is a problem, since "Listen Up Philip" is practically all talk. Jason Schwartzman delivers his lines in a stilted, overprecise way, I guess to convince us that his character really is a "notable" writer and a serious intellectual; occasionally he seems to be channeling in Max Fischer from "Rushmore," but without the irony or humor. It seems to me that someone who writes such clunky, flatfooted prose (he misuses common words like "remiss" and "impart") hasn't earned the right to throw shade on a real writer like Philip Roth, and Jonathan Pryce, as Roth surrogate "Ike Zimmerman," has to struggle to put across some laughably stagy lines. The lowpoint is a cringy scene in which Ike and another alte kocker (who looks suspiciously like Bernard Malamud) pick up two younger women, bring them home and then have to call on Philip for backup. Kudos, on the other hand, to whoever mocked up the jackets for Zimmerman's books, which look exactly like Roth's bestsellers from the 60s Elizabeth Moss lucked out—she doesn't have to play a nasty, longwinded narcissist, doesn't have to emote like she's reading random pages from a self-published novel (I'm talking about you, narrator Eric Bogosian!), and the few scenes she gets to herself are riveting. The pro reviewers were surprisingly indulgent with this one; maybe they were giving it credit for good intentions—seems like what Perry had in mind was something like "Llewyn Davis" (satirical character study of cranky guy trying to reconcile artistic ambitions with practical demands of life in 20th-century NYC) with a smidge of "Frances Ha" (lighthearted comedy of manners featuring arty Manhattanites, shot with shaky camera and other New Wave flourishes)—but, from our perspective, "Philip" doesn't have much to offer in the way of insight or enjoyment. Perry's new one is getting good notices at BAMcinemaFest; I'll prob'ly watch when it turns up on Netflix or Amazon. Fool me twice, shame on me

Listen Up Phillip is a very pretentious movie. It's not a poorly made movie, but it gives me the feeling that it's trying to be more than something it is. Listen Up Phillip tells the story of aspiring author Phillip Lewis Friedman (Jason Schwartzman) who has just published his second novel. He wants to leave his adopted home city, and his relationship with his girlfriend, Ashley (played by Elizabeth Moss) is falling apart. When his idol Ike Zimmerman (played by Jonathan Pryce) offers him a chance to live with him at his isolated summer home, Phillip takes this opportunity to get some peace and quiet to focus on his favorite, and most important subject, himself. The main character of Listen Up Phillip, Philip, is intentionally unlikeable and it's very hard to root for him. In some stories, unlikeable main characters change throughout the course of the story, but in this story, Phillip not change from beginning to end. Although I feel this is intentional on the director's part, if the protagonist was even meant to be relatable character at all, as the movie's narration suggests, then I believe the film failed in that regard. Elizabeth Moss is pretty darn good as Jason's girlfriend, Ashley. She has all the right ingredients: she's full of emotion. Jonathan Pryce does a good job playing a messed up author, Ike, in a somewhat predictable role. Props to Krysten Ritter, especially, as Ike's daughter, who really gives us her all as an unhappy character. Also of note, is French actress, Josephine de La Baume, as Melanie Zimmerman, a woman Phillip starts dating at the end. Unfortunately, their relationship is underdeveloped, and somehow I was left feeling she was supposed to be more of a major character. One of the better things I appreciated the film for, is how, despite the title, Phillip isn't the only character that gets some perspective. There are a few scenes, halfway through the film, where we see things from Ashley's viewpoint. There's even a sequence where she's talking to Phillip at a restaurant and we can only hear his voice, not see his face. There are even scenes where we are shown the perspective of other characters, Ike and Melanie, and we are given their thoughts on what they are thinking during those scenes. There are some shots that I liked, too. The title sequence reminds me of a title sequence from the 70's and 80's, and I appreciate Eric Bogosian's narration (the opening almost made me think I was watching a documentarian for a second) describing the characters and their feelings. There's also a nice sequence where Phillip is driving the car which features some low-key jazz music in the background. While Listen Up Philip is not a film I would rush out to see again, it was enjoyable.

Is there a reason producers keep putting Hollywood's most untalented, obnoxious, midg.., errrr, short person in movies? Schwartzman can't act to save his life. His quirky shtick worked well when he was playing a 15-year-old in Rushmore opposite a total pro like Bill Murray. But how many times can a guy go to the same self-conscious, hair-flicking, deliberately unlikeable, emotionally vacant well? Scene after scene where his character acts like a complete d?nk to everyone. Enough, already. What was this movie trying to prove? How long viewers would sit there before walking out? Let's not even talk about the shaky-cam super-closeups. Or the hack- writing narration. On the other hand we have Elisabeth Moss and her portrayal of the main character's emotionally abused girlfriend. She humanized him and this film. I was never a fan of Mad Men. I thought it was self-important, nostalgic drivel. And Moss's supposed charms in that show escaped me. But after seeing her powerful performance in this movie I look forward to seeing her in more big-screen fare.

Indie at its best. I think that Jason Schwartzman and Elizabeth Moss both were amazing in their roles. She was beautiful and befitting to the role. It takes you through the life of a writer and his relationships with his girlfriends and how he is finding himself in the world. It also centers around his mentor. If you enjoyed Rushmore, I think you will love this film. It is funny and you get the sense that the audience has to be educated to get it. Otherwise most of the material would go over their head. I also enjoyed the narration and he had a fine voice. Please see this film while it is still in the theater.

I should be a perfect viewer for this movie. I know and care about the literary world and the characters portrayed in this film. Yet, I found it boring and pretentious. The story telling style, the focus moving from one character to the other, the narration not quite connected to the screen image, the abrupt behaviors, the dizzying camera work and cutting all pointed to a director who wanted to make a showy splash; the jittery techniques of moving the story along overwhelmed the story itself. The tricks are not only not compelling, but they eventually become silly and boring. Since the Philip character is intrinsically unlikeable, you would either have to hate him so much that you watch the movie to see him get his comeuppance or to laugh at him. But Philip is not that hateful and, while his ferocious self-centeredness might have been quite funny, the Philip character is just NOT funny. All the other characters are inadequately developed, so their self defeating behavior seems mysteriously motivated. The performances are all superior. This actually makes thing worse, as the actors are all saying "something of importance is taking place here". This sense of importance is then sabotaged by gratuitous directorial razzle-dazzle and characters that will never change. Thus, this film is not enlightening, not very funny, and not very interesting.