Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Ortiz Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

CaRose59 I grew up with a manic-depressive father and this movie was spot-on. He wanted to hang around with my friends, he'd play games with me until I was worn out, he embarrassed me with his constant barrage of words-words-words. I knew he loved me and would do anything for me, but I also knew he couldn't be counted on to remember to pick me up at the movies.Certainly not all manic-depressives are the same, but there are some well-known patterns of thought and behavior, and this is a fine example of one of them.

penniweninger I didn't know what to expect, but I've loved Mark Ruffalo in almost every role, and have recently realized that Zoe Saldana is far more than the "It" girl I thought she was. My faith was rewarded. The two were magical in their chemistry with each other and the two delicious actresses who played their daughters. It's a film that reaches into your heart and pulls out the part that wants to hug someone. Perfectly wonderful sharing experience for middle schoolers and their parents.

lindarobertsauthor From a strictly review on the story line, content, performance and direction, this movie should have put Mark Ruffalo in the category of Tom Hanks. This film is a project Hanks could have done and easily been nominated for Best Actor, as Ruffalo should have received.While Ruffalo has made a nice living in the film and TV business, he is still not a household name. What a shame. For the numerous years he has been working in Hollywood, enabling him to live in a nice neighborhood and drive great cars, he is unrecognized by the average person until his stand-out roles are mentioned.In the film Infinitely Polar Bear, Ruffalo has shown his audience he is capable of strong leading roles that can warrant Best Actor nominations. His history shows he co-stars opposite major headliners, but he is secretly a headliner himself. That role has not presented itself yet.This film depicts the life of a Manic-Depressive. If you have lived with someone who has it, then this film will definitely hit home. If you have not, this film portrays only a "glimpse" of what takes place in the life of someone with mental illness, well written by Maya Forbes and portrayed by Ruffalo.Ruffalo deserved an Oscar for this performance. He showed many different sides of a person with mental problems. You hated him at times, felt sorry sometimes but loved him for the sweetness and struggles he had inside.I first really noticed him in Spotlite, but will not forget him watching his under-appreciated performance in Infinitely Polar Bear. He is a Best Actor performer waiting to happen.

evanston_dad Writer/director Maya Forbes obviously feels quite passionately about the subject of manic depression, and I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the depiction of it in "Infinitely Polar Bear" is based on some personal experience. But the film she's made misses its marks by a wide margin, turning manic depression into something little more serious than a set of wacky eccentricities that with the right frame of mind can make a parent even more fun than he/she might otherwise be. Mark Ruffalo plays the parent struggling with mental illness, caring for his two daughters while his wife and their mother relocates temporarily from Boston to New York to go to school. That a mother would leave her daughters with a mentally unbalanced father in the first place, and further that she would continue to leave them with him after she finds out things like he leaves in the middle of the night and doesn't come home until morning, is treated by the film as no big deal. And it's not a big deal, as the movie would have it, since in this film mental illness just means that one has to deal with a kooky and sometimes embarrassing father. I have direct experience with mental illness, and this film's sugar coating of it is not only unrealistic but is downright irresponsible.Mark Ruffalo hams it up to the high heavens. He's a much better actor than one would ever be able to glean from his performance in this film. Zoe Saldana plays the mother and does OK with a not terribly interesting character, but as written she doesn't make any sense, so there's only so much Saldana could do with the character anyway.Grade: C