The Rewrite

Really enjoyed the movie. Hugh Grant and Marisa Tomei are hilarious.

A story about story tellers who draw from experience in their own stories. And in the process make their stories better. Real life feeds off good stories. Books and movies do this. This movie was surprisingly good at relating common problems, the struggle, the choices, conflict, climax, resolution. Good stuff.

If you got in with low expectations, you might come out pleasantly surprised. It's hard to resist Hugh Grant and Marisa Tomei. Yes, there are cheesy and cliche elements, but I was won over by the wit and charm.

Charming romcom, not deep, no instense struggles, no artist suffering for his art in drunken stupors. It's a bit fluffy, but still enjoyable to watch. Filled with really great actors having a good time, and delivering their performances. Not every comedy makes me laugh out loud and this one did more than once. There's Jane Austn references,(Hugh Grant was in Sense and Sensibility) Shakespeare, Twilight Zone, a peep into contemporary screen writing teaching. Hugh Grant is inimicably himself. It's a tad bit more on the entertainment side than the art film side, so sit back with your date, your friend, popcorn, and have a nice ride and a laugh.

I’m going to use this movie to learn how to write my 1st screenplay. ;) plenty of good characters that are likeable.

Loved, loved, loved it...a really feel good movie. Hugh Grant is aging well and as humorous as ever.

As a has-been writer myself (non-fiction books, not screenplays) I was drawn to Hugh Grant’s character. Hugh’s cuter-than-thou charm, however, has passed it’s sell-by date. The movie’s failing is that it relies too much on that charm and is thus unfulfilling … especially with regard to his unconsummated romance with Marisa Tomei. Rewrite is an enjoyable film, and with someone really into the part (I thought Grant’s initial reluctance to consider the teaching job actually stayed with him for the entire movie) it might have proven itself another Dead Poet’s. As it is, it was well worth the 99 cents. I hope Hugh enjoys the handsome royalty.

The young actors were just great in this movie. What not to love about Marisa Tomei! Light and deep at the same time

This film was a disappointment for me. It has a great cast and I’ve enjoyed Hugh Grant in the past and found him quite funny. It didn’t matter too much that the plot was pretty see through, had the writing and on screen chemistry and direction been good, none of that would have mattered. But kind of like what the NY Times reviewer had to say, this feel tired and felt very unsatisfying. I’m a writer, so some of the insider jokes about age and what is selling in Hollywood these days were well taken. There are small moments where incredibly clever lines pop out of people’s mouths, but all too often that is the exception to the rule. Hugh really seems to be phoning it in and the worst part is that there seems to be little or no chemistry between he and Marissa Tomei, another actor I usually love watching. Often it feel like they’re both playing roles they’ve been type cast in over the years, mostly unaware of the fact that they’re acting together in this film. I get that Hugh is trying to (possibly) play a less likable character, and at 54 move away from all the boyish, embarrassed, “aw shucks” English lad. But unlike the character of the father that he describes in one of his student’s screenplays, he’s an awful person that we don’t find fascinating. It’s one thing to be a bad guy on screen and be disliked because of your words and actions, but it’s another entirely to not be interesting enough to be engaging. Hugh’s character is a mean, rude, sexist who sleeps with barely legal students and he’s not interesting. He’s just a rude sexist pig that we don’t feel much empathy for. The way the RomCom works, we have to be rooting for him a little bit to fall on his face because we see something better, deeper, or worth redemption. It’s hard to see any of that in first part of the movie. The danger and irony of writing a film about a screenwriter (and I’m sure this has been said somewhere before) is that you risk being the butt of your own pulpit. Hugh’s character talks (eventually) about what makes a good screenplay which makes us aware of all of the weaknesses in this script and production. The above paragraph a perfect illustration of that. This films could have been so much more than “just” a romcom. It could have been a really funny send up of all the ways in which really great writers struggle with their successes, as much as their failures and how awful playing the Hollywood game feels. The romcom part of the film would have been a lovely bookend to that satire instead of a weak central thread. As the film marched on, I found myself speculating as to whether other actors might have replaced Grant and Tomei and brought more life to the piece, but (given the Hollywood game) they would still have to have been names big enough to instantly recognize and draw patrons into the theater. I’m not sure how this got 64% in Rotten Tomatoes, or why some critics more well known and respected than I seemed to like it. I have to wonder if they liked the cast and concept more than what actually appeared on screen. My wife and I, probably the target audience for this film, LOVE feel-good movies. We were looking for something that would leave us a little charmed by the end of the evening and maybe even a little choked up. But even wishing for this film to succeed at that, didn’t change the feeling we had at the end. We just didn’t care that much about the characters. It just felt kinda: meh. With all due respect to the many hundreds of people who put a lot of time and effort into this film, it’s not the worst thing you could give a couple of hours to, but you might want to wait until you can catch it for free on Netflix. Apparently there is no way to give half stars here, I would have given it 2.5 stars instead of 3, but if you’ve read this far, you get the drift.

This movie surprised me. My expectations were pretty low, and it was better than I expected. Marisa Tomei was fresh and natural and quite delightful and Hugh Grant started his usual foppish self but grew up mid-way through to become more appealing. The story wasn't too clichéd and was reasonably fresh and less predictable than it could've been. I actually quite enjoyed it.