Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Iseerphia All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

randolphpat For years I've watched Project Greenlight try to catch lightening in a bottle. Looking for that Rocky, or Goodwill Hunting they've kissed a lot of frogs. While this is far from a great film, it's certainly not a bad one. And for a first time writer/ director it's actually pretty good. I mean even Altman made Dr T and the Women, and this is certainly better than that. In the past 20 years I could count on one hand the smart satires given any sort of wide release. With Project Greenlight, a whole lot of people who have a lot of money and influence read this script, met the reluctant director, and greenlit the movie. So what can I compare this to, while it's really not a comedy, it really is pure satire. Only a few movies come to mind, but I'll choose one and say it compares favorably to The Object of Beauty. The 1991 Michael Lindsay-Hogg film staring John Malkovich, and Andie McDowell was billed as a "romantic comedy" even though there wasn't really anything funny about it. That story followed a couple running up credit accounts in Europe's most expensive hot spots while waiting for a risky business venture to pay off. Just like Leisure Class, the male lead was essentially a fraud, but hid in plain sight, and his seemingly hapless girlfriend just went along for the ride. That film won the coveted two-thumbs up from Siskel and Ebert, and the story did work a little better than this one, but not that much better. We don't attempt films like this anymore, it was brave, true to it's own nature, and very well shot, scored, and edited. All of this created a backdrop that allowed Bruce Davidson to show all his talents on the screen. If Woody Allen had been forced to pay all his actors scale, had a shooting schedule, and budget like this one, Crimes and Misdermeanors might not have been any better. Of course it's impossible not to consider the eight hours of backstory we all saw prior to this finished product. And I think it's appropriate for the viewer to consider it. This film on it's own was not especially entertaining, but it was a good piece of art from a first time director with a lot of talent, let's hope someone has the vision to let us see more of him.

jmckinzey Whata fraud PGL was this season. All those big shots, pretending the script didn't suck. It wasn't just bad, it was.... Well, it was so bad I barely know how to explain how bad it was. Was there a first act that had some character development that they cut? It's basically just two brit guys improvising the same character dynamics the whole story, and some Americans saying whatever needed to be said to service the plot at any particular time. Just as one example of the idiocy of the script, can anyone think of a reason the Dad would wait till just a few hours before the wedding to mention that the Private investigation into the Guy's background was sketchy? Actually I can think of a reason, because if he'd brought it up earlier, none of what had already transpired in the story would've happened.I will say this, the Producer lady, who's name escapes me right now, she IMO over-reacted to some things at times, but she pulled off a miracle with the budget she had. From a production standpoint, this doesn't look like a cheap movie. Of all the people I saw behind the scenes, she'd be the one I'd hire to help make a movie.Visually, it's just ridiculously stupid that the Director wasted so much time, money and effort on insisting on film. If you'd brought in a thousand people off the street to watch this movie, and then after you woke them up, and you asked them whether this was shot on film or video, I'd bet 99.9% wouldn't have a clue.All that time wasted on film/video, pointless location scouting, obsessing over a stunt that wasn't all that bad, etc.... should have instead been spent on trying to rewrite the script into something that resembled a story worth watching.Props to Affleck for not lying his ass off pretending the film was even remotely good.

The Nater Not to tell HBO how to make their movies, but I have one minor edit that I think could have saved this movie. After shooting the Project Greenlight episodes, and Jason turned in a completed movie, you should have just set up a hidden camera wherever it was that Jason planned to watch the premier. Then, rather than airing it, at the appointed time, run a split screen with a $3 million pile of cash on fire on the left, and Jason's live response on the right. THAT would be far more entertaining than this train wreck of a movie. The story was terrible. It was put together in a way that made me care very little about anyone involved, and by the end, I was just begging for it to be over.

jerpete-1 The central issue of how The Leisure Class might have been better has nothing to do with all the drama depicted on Project Greenlight. The central issue is the time structure of having the story take place on a single afternoon/night. Funny how none of the cooks stirring the broth brought up this problem. As it plays out, how does the audience know Charles/Thomas is a con man? If we were given some background from the months leading up to the wedding, it would give us time to figure it out. Instead we just see him reacting to his brother's arrival like he's a walking turd without knowing why. Like the storyline, the film seems compressed; scenes needed more time to breathe. For instance, it seems like mere seconds pass between when the characters show up uninvited to a party and when they go skinny-dipping in the pool. Which would make Leonard not the only thoughtless cad. Between the show and the film, ironies abound. Jason Mann is obsessed with shooting on film, even though the movie is destined for the small screen on HBO. Effie Jones is obsessed with diversity, and then the movie has none on screen. (One wonders if the black extra who was originally going to be depicted as a chauffeur would have preferred having a job that depicts him in a servant role, which Effie vetoed, to not having a job at all.) Mann is selected as the winning director, but was supposed to be filming a different script, which even he knew he wasn't right for. If I were one of the competing finalists, I'd be p.o.'d. As in, hey, why couldn't I have pitched MY script?