Plantiana Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

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.

Nicole of ArchonCinemaReviews.com The Leisure Class is the film green lit by the fourth season of Project Greenlight, this year produced by HBO and won by neophyte filmmaker Jason Mann.For those of you unfamiliar with Project Greenlight, it is a competition produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck (and previously co-produced by Chris Moore who was inexplicably absent this season) in which one winner gets to make a movie. The applicants are typically burgeoning cinema creators or drowning creatives who long ago took the safe route of a standard job. After a hiatus, the fourth season finally returns after a ten year lull, and this time New York film student Jason Mann won. Initially Mann was to direct a film written by season one winner Pete Jones called "Not Another Pretty Woman" but after some finagling, Mann won over HBO and was able to direct his own project, The Leisure Class.I'm a huge fan of the heart and premise of Project Greenlight – give someone, who would otherwise not have a chance at breaking into Hollywood, the opportunity to make a movie. There is something interesting about watching these bright eyed individuals learn about the indie film maker's experience dealing with a studio, a la getting thrown into the deep end. Without fail though, you end up cheering for the Greenlight winner and inevitably form a bias in your experience of the final project. In an effort to truly watch the film with favoritism, I refrained from watching the series after episode two and skipped right to the movie.The premise for The Leisure Class is not complicated in anyway, a British man named William is about to marry into an 'old money' Connecticut family. This happy occasion is turned on its head when William's eccentric brother turns up and the truth of William's pedigree and intentions can no longer be hidden.The Leisure Class as a film is riddled with problems from start to finish, which makes us shudder at the thought of the state of Not Another Pretty Woman, the initial screenplay which was to be made. Character development, acting, plot, tone, structure, cinematography, production design, editing – basically everything needs work and feels like a rough first draft that should never see the light of day except as a canistered film on a shelf.If you pick away at all the physical imperfections, what comes down to it is The Leisure Class is a weak script. The pacing is terrible, unbearably slow and monotonous at the start, with bouts of fleeting and nonsensical mania. The core events of the film do create a substandard plot, but the dialogue and transitional occurrences to get us from one main plot point to the next are absent. Tonally, The Leisure Class is off-putting, jumpy and abrasive while being equally pointless.Yes, the actors could have brought more to their roles than what was there on paper, especially the feebly written females, most notably Bridget Regan who plays Fiona, but that minor fix would not have been enough to save the film. The two leads, played by Ed Weeks and Tom Bell, who are the heart of the film needed significant guidance based on their performances which a more experienced director would have noticed or edited around. Their banter, which seems excessively ad-libbed at times, needed to be reined in considerably so that the core structure of the film was retained. Listening to the dialogue, you long for the characters to get to the point, patiently waiting for the movie to start, which it never does.It seems as though Jason Mann was given every opportunity to succeed and utilize this film as a catalyst for his career and exemplification of his talents as a film maker. Based on The Leisure Class, Mann needs to go back to the basics of exciting and compelling story-telling before jumping into filming.Please check out our website for full reviews of all the recent releases.

bobcozzi The other review are spot-on, the movie has an entertainment value of 1 to 1.5 (on a scale of 5). The production values are very good. The acting is so very well delivered that it is too bad the script was empty and unimportant.What's odd is that in watching Project Greenlight, you know that the Director shot countless retakes to get the dialog delivered just right, and the editing shows that--they took the best Takes and incorporated into the film. The bad news is it wouldn't have mattered if they did 1 or 10,000 Takes, the dialogue is empty and pointless and basically didn't even make a story. There was really no beginning, middle or end, and the lead Female Role never really went anywhere. The casting and acting (not to repeat myself) were wonderful, however. They deserve a metal for showing up after reading the script.At the end it wasn't about how the film looked or how well it was acted it was about Story. This script actually makes me think it was written by a pretentious 2nd Year High School student. I should point out that in my view, fart and poop jokes are not funny and haven't been funny since most of us were 9 years old. Sadly, they weren't the only non-funny lines in this movie.

MovieHoliks I just saw the latest film produced from the continuation of that Matt Damon/Ben Affleck experiment known as "Project Greenlight", and like the other films I've seen so far, this one is no masterpiece. As the first act tries to be a farce, I thought it pretty much failed on that level, but the second act seems to take you into a whole other realm of type of film, and on that level, I wouldn't go as far as to say it succeeds, but it does a better job there for sure. I just don't think writer/director, Jason Mann, is cut out for this type of film-making. The premise of this season of PG was for the filmmaker in question to produce a comedy, and that just doesn't seem to be his area of expertise. I wouldn't say he doesn't have some talent, or won't end up having a career- I guess it's possible. Although judging by previous PG winners, it doesn't look good...LOL Really, the only one shining light in this film is the performance by Bruce Davison as the politician patriarch of the family- an actor I've admired going back decades. Other than for that, I'd give the movie a definitive thumbs-down.

gpaltrow2001 My wife and I, after seeing Pete Jones pop up, simultaneously watched seasons 1 and 4. It was pretty interesting. Pete Jones had a hard time getting a handle on how to direct, but had a mélange of guys around him arguing over production issues. Jason Mann had a clear vision of what he wanted, pulled off some excellent directorial skill, and had one producer bring her drama. If I were to hire for a small film, Pete Jones would write the screenplay by himself, Jason Mann would only direct, and Effie Brown would have nothing to do with the production.The film looked nice, moved along towards where it was headed, and had some good actors. Whatever was in Jason Mann's head did not translate to an overall satisfying experience. As I write this, I'm surprised the movie is at 3.9 on IMDb. I thought it would be closer to a 5. But I have to agree with the 3.9, 3 of which go to Tom Bell and Ed Weeks. If not for them, this film would be a disaster. It's obvious the best parts of the film were ad-libs between the two male leads.It's my opinion that Effie Brown is a racist. Her complaining about the 'lily-whiteness' (her term) and focus on black crew-members betrays her. I have no issue with blacks, and other non-whites, getting a foot in the door in Hollywood. It's obvious to me that Effie Brown made sure the crew was out-of-proportion black-versus-white-versus-the-population. Her personal agenda became an albatross around the neck of the production. If she were reading this now, her eyes would be open, with a fake, wide, rueful smile to go with it. This was not the production to bring that drama. I hope she gets stuck on Tyler Perry films.Jason Mann may or may not learn his lesson. It is telling that HBO's head, Len Amato, said he would want time before working with Jason Mann again. It was ridiculous that Len Amato had to hand-hold the end of production (that may be why he gets paid the big bucks). Jason Mann has not earned his stripes before or after this production. His skill as a director is evident. He understands lighting, angles, background, set-up, timing, and editing. His next project should be with the condition that he only direct, and direct as he is told by the producer (and as the script dictates). He made a blunder when he stated something along the lines of, "The director gets the final say in the creative process." Noooo, that is what Woody Allen gets to say/do. The director does his/her job, and the MONEY gets to say from the outset who has the final creative say. Now, if "The Leisure Class" makes $20,000,000, then I know nothing. Somehow I think it won't.P.S. Imagine Woody Allen in the Bruce Davison role, and whimsy instead of drama. THAT would be a Woody Allen film to see, and with the EXACT SAME script!