Finding Amanda, the story of a man who lies more than I can stand and the happiest hooker you will ever meet.
I'm going to put this right out here up front. This movie tried to make a point about addiction and enjoying two vices of society, gambling and prostitution. However, the point is so heavily veiled that it never comes across, there is no epiphany and the ending, while kinda happy, really just leaves you thinking that the time you invested in trying to like or relate to these people was wasted.
Taylor Mendon (Broderick) is a producer for the worst show on TV who has an addictive personality (sounds funny, but it really isn't). He is attending counseling to get over his addictions and while he has quit smoking and drinking, he cannot give up gambling, rationalizing his last quirk as acceptable. After all, he gave up smoking and drinking, two out of three is pretty good! Anyway, after he finds out his niece Amanda is living in Vegas and is a hooker who has a drug problem (and after his wife corners him in a lie) he decides to make it up to his wife by "proving that he can quit gambling" by going to Vegas and getting Amanda to rehab. Sounds noble, right? Wrong! You find out that he is so addicted to gambling that he steals a check from his wife BEFORE HE LEAVES. The first thing he does in Vegas is gamble (again, sounds funny, but it comes across as pathetic). You realize that you are not going to like this guy.
OK, so eventually he finds Amanda (Snow), who is really just as sweet and chipper as any other Brittany Snow character I've seen. She is thrilled to be a hooker since she can afford a nice house and a nice car. Oh, and if any of you guys out there are hoping to see her don a sexy outfit, she really doesn't. She does not put on either the outfit on the poster or the DVD cover (I admit that was some of the allure to renting it, sorry). She wears conservative clothing and does not look at all like a hooker.
So, over time, we realize that both Taylor and Amanda are so comfortable with what they feel is acceptable behavior, we discover that these characters are borderline delusional, making every pathetic excuse to justify that they are happy.
Eventually, cracks in there "perfect" lives form. We begin to not project ourselves on to a character and instead sympathize with the secondary, observer characters that are detached from the action. I found myself relating to Taylor's wife more than any other character, I even related to Steve Coogan a bit.
So, the story begins to follow an organic path near the end and you begin to realize that everything will fall into place, when at the last minute, things just go wrong and the ending is bass-ackwards.
Ultimately, this turned into a movie about observing people who don't realize that they are delusional and selfish. In fact, you will likely hate (and I don't mean love-to-hate) Taylor because he lies ALL THE TIME!!! Chances are anything that you can take away from this movie is realizing that you know at least one person like this.
I did not like this movie, but didn't hate it either. This movie does not have me fuming, it just makes me want to forget that I saw it, and unfortunately for everyone involved, I likely will very soon.
I'm going to put this right out here up front. This movie tried to make a point about addiction and enjoying two vices of society, gambling and prostitution. However, the point is so heavily veiled that it never comes across, there is no epiphany and the ending, while kinda happy, really just leaves you thinking that the time you invested in trying to like or relate to these people was wasted.
Taylor Mendon (Broderick) is a producer for the worst show on TV who has an addictive personality (sounds funny, but it really isn't). He is attending counseling to get over his addictions and while he has quit smoking and drinking, he cannot give up gambling, rationalizing his last quirk as acceptable. After all, he gave up smoking and drinking, two out of three is pretty good! Anyway, after he finds out his niece Amanda is living in Vegas and is a hooker who has a drug problem (and after his wife corners him in a lie) he decides to make it up to his wife by "proving that he can quit gambling" by going to Vegas and getting Amanda to rehab. Sounds noble, right? Wrong! You find out that he is so addicted to gambling that he steals a check from his wife BEFORE HE LEAVES. The first thing he does in Vegas is gamble (again, sounds funny, but it comes across as pathetic). You realize that you are not going to like this guy.
OK, so eventually he finds Amanda (Snow), who is really just as sweet and chipper as any other Brittany Snow character I've seen. She is thrilled to be a hooker since she can afford a nice house and a nice car. Oh, and if any of you guys out there are hoping to see her don a sexy outfit, she really doesn't. She does not put on either the outfit on the poster or the DVD cover (I admit that was some of the allure to renting it, sorry). She wears conservative clothing and does not look at all like a hooker.
So, over time, we realize that both Taylor and Amanda are so comfortable with what they feel is acceptable behavior, we discover that these characters are borderline delusional, making every pathetic excuse to justify that they are happy.
Eventually, cracks in there "perfect" lives form. We begin to not project ourselves on to a character and instead sympathize with the secondary, observer characters that are detached from the action. I found myself relating to Taylor's wife more than any other character, I even related to Steve Coogan a bit.
So, the story begins to follow an organic path near the end and you begin to realize that everything will fall into place, when at the last minute, things just go wrong and the ending is bass-ackwards.
Ultimately, this turned into a movie about observing people who don't realize that they are delusional and selfish. In fact, you will likely hate (and I don't mean love-to-hate) Taylor because he lies ALL THE TIME!!! Chances are anything that you can take away from this movie is realizing that you know at least one person like this.
I did not like this movie, but didn't hate it either. This movie does not have me fuming, it just makes me want to forget that I saw it, and unfortunately for everyone involved, I likely will very soon.