When my friend and I arrived at the Redbox last night, most of the new releases had already been picked over, leaving us with an interesting mix of slasher films and high school humor movies to choose from. Keeping in mind we were going to be sharing our Saturday night movie watching experiences with three ladies in their twenties, we bravely ventured into the Romance category.
At the top of the screen was a newly released film called “Love & Distrust”. Although this is the kind of title we usually try to avoid at all costs, it contained a surprising list of Hollywood heavyweights that caught our attention.
Robert Pattinson, Amy Adams, Sam Worthington, James Franco, and the one-and-only Robert Downey, Jr. all had their names on the DVD cover as the stars of “Love & Distrust”.
My friend commented that he could not believe he had not heard of this film because of the tremendous cast. This should have been our first warning sign. However, we neglected to investigate this comment further and, after some deliberation, decided to make the $1.08 rental for the evening.
Redbox provides the following information about the plot of the movie: “‘Love & Distrust’ follows a day in the life of eight strangers as they search for happiness. A waitress, a business man and a lusting teenager from different backgrounds share similar experiences as they search for love, trust and the meaning of life. ‘Love & Distrust’ is a film about how events shape our perspective and help us form connections with each other in the most unlikely of places.”
Now, I’m sure that is what anyone associated with this film (and anyone trying to make a buck off of this film) wants you to believe. The actual “Love & Distrust” experience is far more complicated and far more disappointing.
First, there is no flow to this movie whatsoever. The film is divided into five short films which have absolutely no connection to one another besides the fact that some form of “love” is included. This makes for a very confusing film watching experience because just as you start to understand what is happening in one short film, the words “Love & Distrust” appear on the screen and you are sharply taken into the next film, without any transition or explanation.
According to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), the five short films contained in “Love & Distrust” were filmed at separate times during the past decade: “Auto Motives” in 2000, “Blue Poles” in 2004, “Grasshopper” in 2006, “Pennies” in 2006, and “The Summer House” in 2008.
The lack of any underlying theme and terrible transitions between short films makes “Love & Distrust” very confusing and unsatisfying.
The second problem with this film is that the “stars” are rarely seen during the movie. Downey, Jr. and Robert Pattinson appear on screen for maybe ten minutes combined during the entire hour and a half. Amy Adams appears for longer, but her artistic talents are wasted as she is surrounded by terrible acting which leads to a “surprising” plot twist at the end which makes you wonder why you just wasted twenty minutes watching “Pennies”.
Kudos to James Franco, who headlines “Grasshopper”. Despite having only a limited number of lines, Franco brings the most he can to his role, leading to without a doubt the best performance of the entire film.
Following the confusion, chaos, and randomness surrounding the first four short films, we are thrown into the fifth film disgusted and ready for “Love & Distrust” to be over. To my surprise, a small glimmer of entertainment emerges in the fifth short film, “Auto Motives”.
Auto Motives” was directed by Lorraine Bracco (“The Sopranos”, “Goodfellas”), and features quirky, yet amusing performances by Michael Imperioli, Allison Janney (“The West Wing”, “Juno”), Downey, Jr., and Hollywood powerhouse James Cameron.
“Auto Motives” leaves you feeling better about wasting your time on “Love & Distrust”, but not much better.
Do yourself a favor and save your $1.08. “Love & Distrust” is definitely not worth your time.
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Sources:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1686782/ “Love & Distrust (Video 2010)” IMDb.com Retrieved November 7, 2010
http://www.redbox.com/Titles/AvailableTitles.aspx?cid=PS:Google:Core%20Terms:SiteLinks:redbox:17050&utm;_source=google&utm;_medium=cpc&utm;_term=redbox&utm;_campaign=Core%20Terms&tracking;_ID=1ec75c3b-59e9-a5c8-a2ff-000068f41ecc#Detail&page;=1&sort;=1&titleId;=4334&pageSize;=10&genreID;=-1 “Find a Movie: Love & Distrust” Redbox.com. Retrieved November 7, 2010.
