With Jeff Probst as director, I didn't have high expectations. The premise sounded interesting so I thought I would give it a go.
Happily, this movie was much more than I expected. Enough for me to write my first movie review. And look for the next movie by Probst. I would recommend this to anyone and glad to have it in my collection.
The premise of a young man, who is shown to be thoughtful and caring , who finds a wallet containing a winning lottery ticket and the turmoil within that ensues. The plot was realistic, set in real time, with what I consider to some very real decisions and choices by real characters. There were some good plot turns that weren't expected which is always a nice treat keeping the movie moving - I never thought "ok lets move on".
These were real characters, in which I could see a lot of my friends in. They were quickly set up and I found that great. The lead character, Tepper, was well acted by Erik Palladino, in which you could relate to his turmoil. Matthew Lillards character was obnoxious - a little over the top, but well acted. He definitely could have been toned down. I felt that he was given too much camera time and not enough to Ryan Renyolds character. Quigley should have been more developed - it was as though he was thrown into the cast at the last minute - possibly to give the movie a little more "star power".
The movie is not perfect, but then there never is. Most of the holes that others pointed out, I felt were mainly due to bad choices by the characters. As in real life, we make bad decisions at the time or someone else may see that we made a bad decision. These weren't flaws where you say "that is impossible". Personally I found this movie to be thought provoking, and many of the reviews over-analyzed it, missing the point.
NOTE: I personally like the "redial" scene, as it made me think - it wasn't in my face like a country song.
If I had to pick 1 thing I didn't like...it was probably the twist at the end. I like a subtle clue or 2 where you say at some point in the movie, "I wonder if".
Happily, this movie was much more than I expected. Enough for me to write my first movie review. And look for the next movie by Probst. I would recommend this to anyone and glad to have it in my collection.
The premise of a young man, who is shown to be thoughtful and caring , who finds a wallet containing a winning lottery ticket and the turmoil within that ensues. The plot was realistic, set in real time, with what I consider to some very real decisions and choices by real characters. There were some good plot turns that weren't expected which is always a nice treat keeping the movie moving - I never thought "ok lets move on".
These were real characters, in which I could see a lot of my friends in. They were quickly set up and I found that great. The lead character, Tepper, was well acted by Erik Palladino, in which you could relate to his turmoil. Matthew Lillards character was obnoxious - a little over the top, but well acted. He definitely could have been toned down. I felt that he was given too much camera time and not enough to Ryan Renyolds character. Quigley should have been more developed - it was as though he was thrown into the cast at the last minute - possibly to give the movie a little more "star power".
The movie is not perfect, but then there never is. Most of the holes that others pointed out, I felt were mainly due to bad choices by the characters. As in real life, we make bad decisions at the time or someone else may see that we made a bad decision. These weren't flaws where you say "that is impossible". Personally I found this movie to be thought provoking, and many of the reviews over-analyzed it, missing the point.
NOTE: I personally like the "redial" scene, as it made me think - it wasn't in my face like a country song.
If I had to pick 1 thing I didn't like...it was probably the twist at the end. I like a subtle clue or 2 where you say at some point in the movie, "I wonder if".