Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Sharkflei Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

Seraherrera The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

jackbarton67 Storytelling is very much an analysis of how stories are presented and created. Solondz splits the film into two parts: 'fiction' and 'non-fiction', both depicting a different scenario exploring characters who are involved in the process of the titular process of storytelling. The first part takes up the most part of a quarter of the total film, which focuses on a couple, both of whom attend a college creative writing class and becomes the basis of thematic questions involving writing, for this part of the film. It focuses on the thin line between the conveyance of fiction and non-fiction in writing and poses rather poignant questions concerning disability and race. This part of the film is very quick-witted and progresses rather quickly, but the characters express such despair and are written in such a way that captures the confusion and experimentation, which ultimately leads to self loathing, in young adults and leaves the audience with a rather bitter taster for the whats to come in the second part, but also with pragmatic questions installed, which depending on your interpretation of the film are answered through the second part. 'Non-fiction' is more complex and layered than the first part, it focuses on different ideas, such as exploitation, societal expectations, the struggling attempt to maintain the norms of the nuclear family; as well as the purpose of the creator and how the circumstances can impact the final product. The focus storyteller being Paul Giamatti, who plays a very morally confused and conflicted character, who's selfish desire for success leads to a very one-sided and bias representation of his documentary subject, which begins as the evolution of the American youth, but turns into a exploitative character piece on the socially dysfunctional. Solondz nails the very dark and subtle comedy, but also some very dark beats which come as a shock and feel very out of place but work incredible well concerning the context and the overarching themes, which was also what made Happiness work so well. Solondz writes characters so twisted by society, it almost feels too real.

Adam *MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS* All in all, this film was hard to watch at times. I knew going into it that it was going to be a somewhat disturbing experience. It is Solondz after all. However, when you compare it to his previous films, "Happiness" and "Palindromes", it seems like Sesame Street in comparison.The film is split up into two parts: "Fiction" and "Non-fiction". The first story deals with a young lady who has enrolled in a writing class with her handicapped boyfriend. Her teacher is an overbearing and brutally honest black man. It is apparent that there is some sexual tension between the two of them. She dumps her boyfriend, goes to a bar one night, and her professor just so happens to be there. She ends up back at his place, and something horrible happens to her that pretty much ruins her emotionally. She writes a fictional short story based upon what happened to her that night Everyone in class accuses her of exploitation, of being a racist, etc. Her only response to the harsh criticism: "But it really happened!" Powerful stuff...The second half of the film deals with a documentary filmmaker who is basically supposed to represent Solondz himself. He wants to make a film about teenagers living in modern day suburbia, and he chooses a slacker named Scooby to be his subject. Scooby comes from an extremely dysfunctional family, headed by his extremely temperamental father. Scooby doesn't know what he wants out of life, doesn't even care to take the SATs at school, and wants to be a talk show host when he grows up. He has two brothers. One is your typical high school jock, and he thinks that Scooby is gay. His younger brother is a demonic little intellectual brat who is continually harassing the maid, and on occasion, hypnotizes his parents to get what he wants. However, the documentary filmmaker insists that he cares about these people and decides to go on with his project. There are moments here where it is clear that Solondz is making a statement about past criticisms of his films. Anyone who has done any research on the director will pick up on this. Scooby pours his heart out in front of the camera, telling of his hopes and dreams. He ends up taking the SAT, albeit in a very unconventional way. All the while, the filmmakers intentions become less and less honorable. I will stop there for fear of giving away the shocking ending.Solondz may be letting off a little steam here, and some of it feels gratuitous. However, it gives you plenty of food for thought, and you won't be able to think about anything else for a while.

zygirl513 It's not so much that this movie chose to depict a rather nefarious view of humanity; it's that this movie eliminated the possibility of anything but in the world of the characters. If someone made a movie, in this day and age, in which all the characters were happy, secure, whole and loved, a lot of people would be bored. And say that it's not very realistic. Well I was bored. A deep and subtle boredom, that (upon waking) causes one to question whether they're bored; cause that would mean feeling something...when it kind of just feels like nothing.This movie was boring. And it wasn't very realistic.

Ori Porat I saw this film today in high school, at cinema class. tough my class is usually in a very high level of film understanding, I was surprised to see how pepole "didn't like the ending" and "tought the film could have used situations to make scenes more emotional", missing all the point of this movie.from my point of view, this film is about emotional disawarness to other pepole's feelings. it is screamed in the relationships inside the family, between the director and Scooby, and in every scene in the script. I do not want to make spoilers for the movie, but I think it shows clear at the last line of the movie."storytelling" takes what so many other movies (like "crash") tried to do, but do it better, with more depth, more meaning, more gentle treatment to the characters, just better. who ever saw it and did not think of the point of characters that are emotionally closed, I think should watch the movie again, because he might miss a spectacular work of cinema.