Buddy's Film (and Game) Insights

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Movie Reviews

Manic

Posted by Buddy Acker on October 17, 2010 at 4:49 AM

Manic

Was this movie made specifically for me?


 

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I don't care what any of the big critics said about Manic; I watched this movie for the first time recently and I really, really enjoyed it, mainly because I could identify with it. I am a schizophrenic myself and this movie absolutely nails what it is to go through something like this. It does the smart thing by focusing on each of the character's emotions and not just their look. The main thing that I've seen that the critics are bitching about is the fact that the camera is "shaky" and that it's obvious this was Jordan Melamed's first picture. The shakiness never really distracted me, maybe because I didn't pay it any attention, and for this to be someone's first movie, I am impressed. His first movie? Are you kidding me? Wow.


 

The acting is good across the board. It might seem obvious to do this, but I will say that the best performances are by the three biggest stars of the film, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel, and Don Cheadle. Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel also starred together in (500) Days of Summer, another great movie. But Manic is the exact opposite of that movie. It's (500) Days of Bummer, if you will. Anyway, the two play off of each other in this movie just as they did in that one and it's quite effective. Cheadle is also pretty good, and even great in one key scene that I can recall. It's the scene where he finally snaps and gives Gordon-Levitt's character, Lyle, the therapy that he'd needed the whole time.


 

Sure, Manic isn't the best movie ever made, but calling it a bad movie? Come on now. It is not bad. It has several flaws, most of them coming from the somewhat reserved script, but nothing that is terrible. I think that sometimes critics just don't pay attention to anything. I know that they actually do because it's a part of their job description, but sometimes they can be ridiculous. I don't know. All I know is, I liked Manic and I don't care if anybody else did.


Score: :D:D:D:D1/2

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