Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Richie-67-485852 If there ever was a movie where you could discuss the pro and con of what was said and done and by whom, this be the one to the textbook. What would you have done is the question and then choose a side and here we go. The arguments for or against what these characters did or didn't do are meaningful and full of depth and remain even closer to real life than one would admit. The opposing points of view and the beliefs behind them remain fascinating. Mother, daughter, father and son each had their own take on what should be done and why. If you don't care to join in and play the different roles, then sit back and let this movie have its way with your emotions. It will push and pull on you, love and hate will surface as well as right or wrong and good and bad. College classrooms would find this good for debate purposes bar none. Popcorn or sunflower seeds recommended to keep the fingers busy plus a refreshing drink. Enjoy

Richard Wheeler This film is very plausible as it revolves around teenagers from families rich and average, how the average people see the rich one as money buying everything and the average ones disapprove of it; when in fact there are some rich families which don't think that way as seen in this film. This film is very feasible as it looks on behalf of one's personal development and how one focuses on how they suffered in a tragic process, the price we pay, focusing on life's lessons and every person and family has problems. It also shows how one deals with a problem in such a difficult situation and we see what happened then, and what has happened to us now. Watch the common plausible and feasible ways of life between the rich and average communities and people.

MisterWhiplash Bits and pieces of this film by director Barbet Schroeder Before and After are all I had seen before I watched the film from start to finish tonight, maybe because it never seemed like something that was very much worthy to stick to for long on TV. Now after, it's never quite as successful as it aspires to almost in spite of what the cast is up to deliver. But what makes the film fall apart even when it reaches for grounded, dark family drama, is that there is an inherent 'message' being pushed with the material, and there is more potential for the dynamics of these characters than is mined. In fact, this could have been a very good film, bordering on excellent, if all the expectations that could come with a 'movie' version of such a realistic story had been subverted. As it is, Liam Neeson, Meryl Streep, and Edward Furlong do what they can with characters that border between two and two and a half dimensional characters (if that makes sense). They're all extremely competent and put power where it's needed in scenes. But the whole lot of it almost seems to a kind of 'meh' point, like an episode of Law and Order that goes more for the upper-middle class decay than the interest in the case itself of the murder committed by the teenage Furlong. No one is necessarily a 'bad' character, which ironically places some of what ends up occurring on screen after the first hour being bland and predictable. There are maybe two or three really well-done scenes in the whole film (i.e. when Neeson and Streep first visit Furlong in jail, with an impeccable silence from the child to the emotional parents), floating amid what could just as well be a TV movie trumped for Hollywood. It's also sad to report that a supporting actor like Alfred Molina is almost misused, which rarely every happens with his character-actor parts; compared to his best roles in other indie and blockbuster films the quality of 'ah, Molina's in this' lasts for maybe three minutes. Worth watching maybe once, though if you don't stick through it to the end it's not the end of the world- probably one of Shroeder's lesser films.

xsnowangelx 'Before and After' is the kind of movie that you expect to be really fantastic. Great actors, good plot. It has huge potential. Unfortunately, the actual script seriously flaws this movie. There stand brilliant actors such as Liam Neeson, Meryl Streep, and Edward Furlong. But the actual words coming out of their mouths were often so silly, it makes you wonder how the same person who wrote 'The Silence of the Lambs' also wrote this screenplay. Overall, despite the script flaws, it has quite a good mystery, and besides the young daughter, a brilliant cast. It is worth a watch, if just for the main casts' beautiful performances.