Henry Saw: Monogomy and The Ledge

Two bad movies about relationships (among other things)...


The briefest of reviews for two movies that are barely worth our time-



Monogamy:

Let's let Wikipedia provide us with a plot synopsis:

"Monogamy, directed and co-written by Dana Adam Shapiro, is about the strained relationship of an engaged Brooklyn couple, Theo (Chris Messina) and Nat (Rashida Jones). Theo is bored with his job as a wedding photographer—the generic backgrounds, the artificial posing, the stilted newlyweds—so he develops an unconventional side business, called "Gumshoot," a service where clients hire him to stalk them with his camera. Becoming infatuated with one of his clients, a mystery woman who goes by the name Subgirl (Meital Dohan), Theo develops a voyeuristic obsession that forces him to confront uncomfortable truths about himself and his impending marriage."

To get right to the point, Monogamy is a dull and unimpressive film. The tone is completely flat and the movie never gets you remotely interested in Theo and Nat's relationship. Whether it is the brief look at their Brooklyn-hipster lives before Theo starts his Gumshoot service, or the strains that their relationship goes through after Theo becomes more interested in Subgirl than Nat, I never at one point cared what happened to these characters. Dana Adam Shapiro must have assumed that Rashida Jones' natural likability would carry the emotional weight of the film, but even her cute and charming self could not rescue this plodding and detached script.

What makes Monogamy even more frustrating is that the idea of the Gumshoot business is an intriguing one. Obviously playing with some of the same ideas that Hitchcock and De Palma were able to probe to great effect, Shapiro's version of the obsessed voyeur is completely lacking in thrills or subtlety. It doesn't help that his lead Chris Messina seems completely bored by his role. The whole thing plays like a student film, a boring one at that, where despite having a solid premise the director never figured out how to craft an engrossing film around that one idea.

I will say that one positive thing that stood out was the song that Rashida Jones sings multiple times throughout the film. Not only was it catchy, but it reinforced the themes of the movie without being heavy handed. I can also praise the performances from Messina and Jones in their climatic sequence towards the very end of the film. It is the best written scene in the film and the actors were clearly inspired to do their strongest work. Otherwise, Monogamy had nothing to offer this viewer.

Grade: C-

Best Scene: That climatic conversation between Nat and Theo...




The Ledge:

Let's let Wikipedia tell you what this movie's about:

"The movie opens with detective Hollis Lucetti, played by Terrence Howard, receiving the news from a doctor that he has been sterile his entire life. The film quickly switches to Gavin Nichols, an atheist played by Charlie Hunnam, standing on a ledge as if to jump. A small crowd forms below Gavin and Hollis responds to the emergency. The movie then recounts the story of Gavin and his love for Shana, his neighbor's wife played by Liv Tyler. When the neighbor, a fundamentalist Christian named Joe (Patrick Wilson), finds out that Gavin has been sleeping with his wife, he challenged Gavin to a battle of wills. This involved Gavin jumping off a building to prove his love for Shana, despite his disbelief in an afterlife."

Oy.

I said Monogamy felt like a student film...well The Ledge feels like it was written by a pretentious High School senior. It is basically a two hour long treatise on the flaws of fundamental Christianity. What's strange is that I basically agree with a lot of writer/director Matthew Chapman's opinions on the subject. It's just that his film is so poorly written, so ham-handed in its execution, and built around such a silly premise, that even I found myself frustrated and angry at the filmmakers.

The acting is incredibly stilted, like the actors felt awkward delivering the terrible dialogue, and the plot turns (I wouldn't go as far as to call them twists) are silly and completely forced. The direction also shows zero stylistic flourishes and The Ledge does not look any better than your average Law & Order: SVU episode. But it is the screenplay that is the most guilty offender here. The debates the characters have about religion show no nuance and the thriller aspects of the movie are even worse.

Just thinking about the movie is making me angry so I'm gonna end this review here. Don't see The Ledge, it's a mess of a movie, and it almost made me embarrassed to be an atheist.

Grade: D

Best Scene: Ugh...when Charlie Hunnam comforts a maid.