Sexyloutak
Absolutely the worst movie.
Invaderbank
The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.
Billy Ollie
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
DJ-Ren
I realize that Thomas Jane didn't write or direct this project BUT everything I've ever seen him in has been great. This is one of those movies that, if made today, would begin by getting Kickstarter(or an equivalent). Before that, however, a person(s) that deeeply wanted a film made would do things like getting "well- off" people in the film industry to contribute money (Spike Lee did this by hitting up 10 rich black people, such as Will Smith and Magic Jordan, for a million each; Jason Patrick did "Speed 2" for the sole purpose of getting enough money and "Hollywood big-shots attention" to get "Narc" and "Your Friends and Neighbors" made. (Both frickin' AMAZING films, BTW). Sorry, not concentrating on movie. OK, basically 4 20-year old men (I already warned you about spoilers, but here come big ones) on the cusp of success make a pact that they'll meet back at a cabin when they're 40. If life is not as grand as they thought it would be, they'd all kill themselves. If you are a 40-ish male who hasn't reached the heights that you planned out when you were 20, just watch it with lots of bright lights on, preferably WITH friend(s) (m or f), do not be (or get) drunk/stoned while watching, and make sure that all sharp objects are wayyy out of reach. BUT WATCH IT!
mystic80
"I Melt With You" is a play off the song of the same name by Modern English. But it's clearly a double entendre as the film is about to begin.IMWY is the story of four middle aged men, each with their own personal crises that they hide under the macho swagger and attempt at youthful bravado with drugs and alcohol. The four of these men are all college pals reuniting for a lost weekend of sorts, gathering together at a beach side house out in Big Sur, California. What starts off as a fun weekend of excess, slowly turns into a sinister exploration of what it means to regret the mistakes we make in life. Richard (Thomas Jane) is an English teacher with one published book to his credit, who is trying to reprise the free spirited, artsy bad boy he clearly was in college; Ron (Jeremy Piven) is a family man and stockbroker with the forces closing in on him, from a career that may not be as legitimate; Jonathan (Rob Lowe) is a divorced doctor pocketing cash on the side by making illegal sales of prescription drugs and a relationship with a young son that's clearly going south; and Tim (Christian McKay), a man who made one deeply fatal mistake in life that may have damaged him beyond curing. These four college pals reunite in what may not be for the best turn of events.Let me just say that "I Melt With You" is directed by Mark Pellington, a fairly underrated director who made the horror film "The Mothman Prophecies" and the domestic terrorism thriller "Arlington Road". Pellington may be onto something as a director, unable to unearth the sinister nature of what appears to be normal. "The Mothman Prophecies" was about an urban legend that people dismiss as myth while "Arlington Road" was about how a next door neighbor may not be as friendly as they appear. "I Melt With You" falls into similar territory: the idea of how a friendly reunion, has a more unspoken and deeply sinister nature to it, when the truth finally surfaces. While not going into great detail, the film takes a deeply dark turn midway through the film, that I didn't expect. This turn reminds me of a 1973 French film called "La Grande Bouffe" (The Big Feast) in which four middle aged men, all feeling that their successful lives have lead them to a hollow existence, decide to retreat to the countryside to eat themselves to death. Replace food with drugs and in a sense, you have "I Melt With You"."I Melt With You" focuses on the themes of middle aged regret, which seems to have become somewhat of a staple in American cinema with the likes of films like "Sideways". However, this film is much darker and it's quite brutal in nature. The idea of four men who are long past their prime and their youth, halfway between youth and death, end up going on an epic bender of sorts in order to numb the pain in their souls. I look at this film and I think of my friends, and I hope to God that we don't end up like the four main characters in this film. If anything, this film might be a painful reminder of what not to become. Between the constant drug taking and the boozing, it's an absolutely brutal experience to watch these guys, all with their own pains, slowly spiral into something worse. During a party sequence in the film, the four characters find themselves in deep conversations with peers half their age, and in a way, representations of what they were like at that age, before family, career and responsibilities got to them. It's not a comfortable thing to watch.The performances are all top notch and uneasy to watch at the same time. I think of Rob Lowe as happy-go-lucky Chris Traeger from "Parks & Recreation" and idealistic Sam Seaborn from "The West Wing". But he's the complete opposite of those characters. He's just a man, like the rest of the characters, slipping away on the fringes of life. Jeremy Piven has always crafted a career of playing the angry neurotic that he's performed well in films like "Very Bad Things" and "Entourage", and his character's descent into his own personal hell is something to watch. Christian McKay, perhaps the least well known of the cast, is effective as well: a sad man who may already be dead, except he may know it. Thomas Jane, whose career has not been as great as it was in the late 90's and early 2000's, is fantastic as well. We all know someone like Jane's character. Hell, I might be like him in some respects. But the four men take this film seriously as an actors piece, and they do it perfectly."I Melt With You" will slip into the abyss of the thousands of movies that get forgotten each decade. In a more ideal world, I'd like to think that it could be revisited as being a good film, under-appreciated in its time, like other films have often gotten that reception only later. This isn't a bad film by any means, but it's a brutal, nihilistic piece not for the faint of heart. I'd highly suggest for anyone who loves movies starring Marvel superheroes or Meg Ryan, to move on and find something that will be crowd pleasing. "I Melt With You" is like going to the dentist without getting the novocaine, and having to sit through the whole experience with that kind of pain, only in the mind.
John Nail (ascheland)
I watched "I Melt with You" right after I watched "Husbands." On the surface the movies have a lot of similarities, both featuring middle-aged men at a crossroads in their lives, overindulging their Ids in a desperate attempt to relive the good times they left behind when they became responsible adults. But the movies have a lot of differences, too, the chief one being that "Husbands" was written and directed by the acclaimed John Cassavetes; "I Melt with You" was decidedly not.In "I Melt with You," four friends, all age 44, gather at a rented mansion in Big Sur for their annual reunion. Richard (an over-the-top Thomas Jane) is a failed novelist now teaching high school English; Jonathan (Rob Lowe) is a doctor/drug dealer; Ron (Jeremy Piven) is a money manager dodging the SEC; and Tim (Christian McKay), in what just as easily could have been the "token black friend" role, is defined by his homosexuality and thoughtful demeanor so I guess we don't have to know what he does for a living. Upon the guys' arrival at the vacation manse — which, I should mention, seems more within the actors' price range, not their characters' — the movie becomes "Less than Zero: The Reunion." Their week proceeds thusly: Get drunk and do coke.Drink some more and do more coke, plus pop some of those pills that Jonathan brought.Do donuts in Richard's Porsche while snorting coke.Do still more coke.Splash naked in the ocean.Get drunk and do coke, with some pills to mellow things out.More cocaine! Go fishing to come down. Say things like real love "made every day anointed." Got any more cocaine? This goes on FOR AN HOUR. No matter how artful director Mark Pellington's camera angles are, no matter how beautiful the lighting, no matter how cool the soundtrack, watching Jane, Lowe, Piven and McKay Hoover up mountains of cocaine and talk about p---y hair gets real tedious real quick. In real life if these guys ingested as much drugs and alcohol as they do in this movie they'd be in an emergency room by the second day of their gathering — or dead. And given how insufferable these guys are we wish they would die. Someone does eventually, though not of an accidental overdose, and when that happens the movie goes from tedious to stupid. This is where I should bring up that Carla Gugino is in this too, as a cop/deus ex machina, but I'm betting she wouldn't be offended if you forgot she's part of this movie.I didn't exactly like "Husbands" — I thought parts were better than the whole — but I appreciated what Cassavetes was trying to do, not to mention it features some strong acting. There's little to appreciate about "I Melt with You," beyond a good soundtrack and some beautiful cinematography. No, wait — there is one other thing I appreciated about "I Melt with You": after I watched it I had a much higher opinion of "Husbands" — and "Less than Zero."
neilprivate
No idea why people are bitching about the strangest things with this film. It's well written, good original dialogue and a new story. It is a film of two halves, but both are high quality.It's actually quite fresh. The shooting style is different, I read reports here about them using Canon DSLR cameras. It's a lovely look I think, lots of fresh angles, fresh looks, fresh effects.Can't complain about the cast, excellent selection of likely suspects.In summary: a gritty drama, well worth your time. Not the typical Hollywood feast at all. Look forward to seeing what else these guys make.
