The Giant Mechanical Man

What is wrong with IMDb people? How can this movie have such a low rating? Out of all the Rom-Coms I've seen this year, this is by far the sweetest and perhaps the only one with genuine, believable characters. I mean, who among us hasn't felt at some point in life like they're lost, like they haven't got it all figured out, like they are still struggling. They feel confused at not having the same goals that give other people a sense of achievement and not being able to conform to society's definition of success. The story is pretty straight-forward and centers around real and ordinary people. Jenna Fischer is sweet and personable as the female lead, Topher grace is hilarious as the obnoxious author who won't stop bragging about his book, and I actually have a younger sister akin to Malin Akerman's character of the over-bearing know-it-all sibling. She thinks just cuz' she got married first, she has the right to dish advice on every conceivable topic....(smiley face) As for Chris Messina, well, it's the quiet moments where his character broods and mulls that speak volumes, and the soundtrack suits the mood of the film just right. I loved the lead pair and I loved this movie. Go watch it if you wish to enjoy an hour and a half of some winsome and delightful drama!

source: The Giant Mechanical Man

This movie had a few nice elements, like Topher's smarmy and insecure character, and a few nice moments between Fischer and Messina. But, the writing is clunky, the themes tired, and the whole mechanical man metaphor unconvincing and poorly thought out. It had potential, but didn't deliver on any level. In my opinion, it was just a non entity, which is worse than being a bad movie...

Just occasionally you happen across a small film that really surprises you. This is one of them. It's an offbeat romance not unlike Once or 500 Days of Summer and if you liked either of those films the chances are you will like this. With any small film like this it relies on the actors to breathe life into the story. Both the leads are impressively charming and have a great chemistry. The writing is sharp and well observed with plenty of funny moments to go along with the spot on romance part. OK it may be slightly predictable but to be honest it wouldn't have worked being any other way. If you want to watch a film that will leave you with a big smile on your face then this is a must. One of the classiest and best romantic comedies I've seen. This is a film that deserves a much wider audience. Impressive.

Tim (Chris Messina) is content to be a silver painted street statue on stilts. It doesn't pay the bills and his girlfriend Pauline (Lucy Punch) isn't happy. She wants him to move on. Janice (Jenna Fischer) is a temp who's trying to find a direction. She's forced to move in with her overbearing sister Jill (Malin Akerman) who sets her up with self-help guru Doug (Topher Grace). For a rom-com, there isn't much comedy. It's a rather easy flowing low energy love story. Topher Grace tries desperately to be crazy funny with an over the top egotistical performance, but all I get from him is annoyance. This is an underwritten rom-com. The saving grace is that both Chris Messina and Jenna Fischer are lovely people. They keep me hook with their charm.

The indie approach to love stories differs quite markedly from that of mainstream Hollywood. The Giant Mechanical Man fits comfortably into this tradition, its lack of grandeur adding to its charm, but at times it's a flick that feels a little too contrived to become something you'll want to revisit. The plot centres on a street performer (Chris Messina's Tim) and his struggles to fit in with the expectations of society at large, as well as to make ends meet. His lack of desire to take part in conventional culture defines the character and leads to a variety of problems in his relationships, largely due to drastically differing views on the world from those around him. His approach to life is fairly philosophical, believing that if he can brighten even one person's day on their way to work, it will make everything worthwhile. The character works well for the most part, but can come off as a stereotypical arty type in some of his rhetoric, which some may find a little grating. The other side of the narrative takes Jenna Fischer's Janice as its focus. She has little idea what she wants from life and has difficulty holding down the succession of menial jobs that she takes on to pay the rent. She is the archetypal daydreamer, her head in the clouds more frequently than on solid ground. Her awkwardness in social situations does a lot to make the character likable, the urge to will her to speak up for herself overwhelming. The balance between comedy and drama in the film is judged well. There's adequate humour to raise a smile on more than one occasion and the drama plays very successfully for the most part. However, the scenes intended to be the most intense sometimes don't work quite as well as they should, leaving some of the more pivotal moments feeling a little flat. The movie's charm does a lot to make up for this, but there are points at which it is slightly overcooked and what atmosphere there was is crushed under the weight of borderline sickly sweetness. The biggest problem here lies in the slightly ridiculous coincidences that lead to the two protagonists getting to know each other. The aim may perhaps have been to demonstrate how predestined to be together they really are, but there's an uncomfortably artificial feel that comes along with this and it detracts more than a little from the picture as a whole.

The cast is great but the script leaves a lot to be desired. It's definitely got that independent vibe going on and unfortunately, it seems like it needed the helping hand of a few big wig studio rewrites. I felt pretty bored while watching several expository scenes (though the key scenes between the leads were pretty sweet). I found the attitude of Janice's sister, Jill, pretty annoying. It's like whoever wrote this movie doesn't acknowledge the awkward people in life. I suppose that might be realistic to some, but I don't find it realistic at all. If you have a stack of movies that you're waiting to watch, The Giant Mechanical Man should be somewhere near the bottom. Or something you play for background noise. Try it out if you love the actors, but otherwise, there are quirkier movies that do material like this much better.

I see film after film after film, ( partly because I have no life at the moment ...ha ) and rarely do I a come across a Jewel like this. I cannot believe that most of us don't struggle with not knowing what you want or who you are and what you're supposed to do. The moments of fate in this film seem very hard to believe but possible I suppose. I'd like to find that one person to make me feel like I belong too. This film makes me want to wish I had a reset button so that I could see it over and over again for the first time. Chris Messina was effortless and the chemistry between him and Jenna Fischer was magical. I'll see this film again and again...

It fulfills everything that a romantic comedy wants to be. I.e., a sweet, cute, warm, encouraging, adorable, amusing, snuggle-worthy, young adult date (or post-breakup, or looking for someone) film. The plot setup is clear and you can see at least romantically where this is going within the first 5-10 minutes. Not a film to go to if you're looking for mystery or suspense or women screaming in fear with hands to their head. It is, however, a new take on a common story line, and the writer/director does an excellent job of creating parallels. There are only so many new takes you can get on young adult romances involving those misdirected or lost and confused, so it's worth seeing for that and a variety of subtle insights. As is befitting a giant mechanical age of program loops, it is easy to see how a giant mechanical man could have ended up writing this story as part of a biography. But I'm still disappointed Jenna's character didn't do something about the artificial zoo juice.

Terrific film - really realistic and charming love story and take on the lives of people whom have more depth and sensitivity than our culture usually accepts. Characters were well developed, except for Jenna Fisher's which was my only disappointment. Some people in life really are just quiet, and can be swept away by life or by the pushiness of others (even those well intentioned), and she did a great job communicating her thought processes through her face and her eyes. As a viewer, I could see what she wasn't about it and I appreciated that, but it was hard to see what she was about exactly - what her dreams and motivations were other than survival - and I thought the scene where she disclosed her being adopted in the diner could have been elaborated on. While the other characters were given opportunities to have some revealing moments of dialogue, her disclosures were through her sad and thoughtful facial expressions and eyes, which at the end, when she finally took control of her life, became a great big smile that lit up her face. But when her character did finally have her say to her sister in the movie theatre, I was hoping for a little more depth. The best moment of success, I think, is where Jenna's character finally decides she is tired of standing quietly behind the juice cart (and her life as the world goes by) and marches into her bosses' office and finds her voice, with a positive outcome. It's the culmination of several passed over moments in the movie where as a viewer, I wanted her to speak up for herself, and finally she does, and really, it's a moment her life changes for the better, a challenge we can all relate to, especially those of us that are more quiet and sensitive by mainstream society's standards. Chris Messina's character was about self expression and helping others connect and reflect in gentle ways, and Topher Grace's character, while less noble, was an interesting contrast in also having an influence in others but in a notorious way. Chris Messina was adorable as an artistic type, one of the good guys, trying to fit into a materialistc world, Topher Grace nailed the narcissistic perfectly, and Malick Ackerman played the quintessential well meaning sister whom doesn't really see the main character (her big sister) but tries to fix her "failings", which were really just a lack of superficial culture acceptance. A great scene that shows this is the day Jenna Fisher's character is evicted from her apartment and moving into her sister's spare bedroom in a nice house, feeling like a failure, and Malina's character is following her around drinking a store bought coffee, reading about celebrity breakups on her phone. Another great scene is where the two main characters have just made love and they are agreeing they are okay about getting serious about each other, with all the careful vulnerability of two people who have been hurt but really see and accept each other- very sweet and satisfying, and a moment of genuine success for them we get to witness. Really enjoyed and would definitely recommend.