Steineded How sad is this?

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

vchimpanzee David, who calls himself Samuel, is in graduate school at Yale but needs to take some time off and discover new things while getting away from normal life. He takes a bus to Oregon, informs his mother by phone that he doesn't want to stay in touch, and goes to work picking apples. His girlfriend was going to join him but she got a ride with another guy who she now likes. Most of David's co-workers are Mexican because local people seem to be "too good" for this sort of work. David speaks almost no Spanish and the others speak little English, but he tries to make friends with Pedro. It's not really clear if he has. Hobbs, his boss, isn't particularly nice, but when his nephew dies, he lets David have the nephew's trailer and tells him the nephew's job at an apple processing plant is open.The workers are miserable and don't seem to care to socialize with David. With one exception: Curly is really nice. But he has a secret, so he won't be David's best friend after all.We know what's coming. Earlier in town, David met Jon, a man passing out literature about C.O.G., which wants people to follow Christ. David already told us on the bus that religion is for people who want to feel special, and he's not interested in the "ghosts" that those people follow.So David and Jon will meet again. Jon is an artist living in the basement of some church members, making Oregon-shaped jade clocks. He has a past and religion has been good for him.So will David find Jesus? Will his friendship with Jon work out? Will David return to his normal life?This is a disturbing movie with some positive messages about Christianity. But not all Christians in this movie act the way Christians should. And maybe that's all right. There are plenty of moral dilemmas.We are also reminded of all the difficulty that goes into bringing us those items we need to live our lives, which seem to come to us so easily.Jonathan Groff is supposedly based on David Sedaris. I found this out later. He does a good job and puts us through lots of misery and important lessons. Happiness? I'm not sure.Jon is a complicated character, not quite what one would expect. He's certainly not goody-goody. Denis O'Hare gives an interesting performance.Curly is also a good character, but not quite what one might be expecting. Corey Stoll also does a good job.I know Dean Stockwell best as the companion to time traveler Dr. Sam Beckett who appears as a holograph. He's cynical rather than funny here for the most part, but just as talented as he was back then.It's not a family film. So many words were bleeped I occasionally had trouble following the story.It's not my idea of entertainment, but it's a worthwhile challenge and something that makes it worth getting out of my comfort zone.

SnoopyStyle David (Jonathan Groff) takes a break from his ivy league world for an apple picking job. He's a spoiled, self-assured bookworm. His Mexican co-workers don't understand him. His boss Hobbs (Dean Stockwell) barely tolerates his lack of work ethics. Jon (Denis O'Hare) is handing out religious flyers titled COG. His friend Jennifer is suppose to join him but she leaves the job for a new boyfriend. Curly (Corey Stoll) drives the forklift at the apple plant. After an awkward night with Curly, he abandons his job, somebody steals his money, and he only has Jon to help. He stays with Martha (Casey Wilson) and her family. His atheism, his lack of a love life, his sexuality, and his attitude are all challenged.I think the story is meant to be quirky comical. However that is not the prevailing sense from director Kyle Patrick Alvarez. Groff's character is too much of an annoying know-it-all. After all, that is the character as written but it would be more effective if he does what he does because of clueless kindness. The one great character is played by Corey Stoll. He does a fun disturbing performance. It's too bad that he's only a supporting character, but he's a good one. This never got funny. Sometimes it got disturbing. It may have even gotten profound although that could argued either way. The ending is somewhat truncated which is problematic for some people. I'm not one of them. Movies don't have to be about resolving something. I just didn't get involved in David's journey.

stefarbalova The movie seems very promising in trailers and even when one starts watching it, almost until the end... when loose ends are left hanging and all of one's hopes for the movie's potential to communicate relevant and illuminating ideas collapse.Moreover, their referring to many problematic notions and expressions remains unchecked. The use of "retard," "faggot" and "slut" is never explained or condemned. The idea of homosexuality as a sickness--is left unchecked, too; and so are the presentations of immigrant workers as thieves and of menial workers as stupid and not at the level of a college graduate. We are never told or shown how we are supposed to feel about any of these issues. And while the ambiguity of religion is largely okay in a world of various religious convictions (or lack thereof), I don't see how the rest of the topics can responsibly be treated as a matter of contention.Yet, I loved Jonathan Groff's acting. I also loved the post-graduate attitude, which signified the place from which the emotional journey of the character began. I can really relate to it, too: the way your own struggles and successes make you feel superior to others. Which is why I was hoping David would learn to appreciate people and see them as his equals--which he partly, arguably, maybe did. But then, what was the point of religion? Why the ambiguity surrounding his sexuality? Did he have a problem with his sexual orientation?I am just confused by the way the movie ended.Although Jonathan Groff was brilliant, and C.O.G. was mostly well-written and filmed, I felt that it was cut short. Only 10 concluding minutes could clear a lot of my concerns, if included. But, as it stands, the movie is aesthetically, narratively, philosophically and socio-politically unresolved.

pyotr-3 I really liked this film because the main character reminded me of myself at that age: a bit naive about the world, clueless about how privileged I was to have gone to college, and terrified of recognizing the fact that I was gay. Jonathan Groff is such a pleasure to watch, you could justify watching the film as an excuse to look at Groff for 85 minutes. But he really does perform the role well here.It's just a simple film in a way: a young man sets out to break away from the world he knows to see if he can make sense of it. And it appears his family has cut him off so perhaps he had no choice. There are some little moments that will go over the heads of straight people, some of whom watch the whole movie without catching on to the fact that Groff's character is gay (read the comments on YouTube and IMDb). Gays watching the film will figure that out from the bus ride at the beginning of the film and the way he responds to anti-gay slurs thoughtlessly tossed out by straight passengers. Even though there are so many un-likable characters in the story, it's kind of oddly beautiful to watch. I could watch this film many times.