Disclaimer: I found the acting in this good, though the dialogue was bad. My biggest problems lie with the story and characterization.
First off, this premise has been done before (see: Benny and Joon.) And may I say it was done a heck of a lot better. You see, Joon actually acted like a SCHIZOPHRENIC. In this movie I have to say that the psychiatric ward was the most romanticized I'd ever seen; people acted a little strangely, but lovably so. And don't get me started on Michael who they said was supposed to have schizoaffective disorder. PLEASE. He had two psychotic episodes throughout the movie, and the last one was a result of not taking his pills (or should I say pill; it appears he only needed one! Man, that must be one HECK of a pill.) Yeah, I'm sure if they had a medicine like that every darn schizophrenic in the country would want it, because they completely subdued his symptoms despite anti-psychotic drugs being, well, not very good. Michael also showed no additional signs of schizophrenia, such as speech problems, flat affect, disordered thinking, fragmented world view, inappropriate emotions, and withdrawal from others. His immediate attachment to Letty was quite atypical. In addition to the lack of schizophrenia he did not appear to ever go through mania or depression.
Then don't get me started on Letty or whatever her name is, Miss "Don't Tell Me Who I Can and Can't Date!" It was soooo obvious that she had no idea what she was in for. I loved when the psychiatrist was telling her about Michael's illness and she was essentially like "Whatevah! I do what I want!" She seemed to think that his mental illness was just a cute little quirk that would result in him taking her ring and sneaking out to order pizza in the middle of the night. I was just WAITING for the moment when she would realize exactly what she had gotten herself into. I expected it to come a lot earlier, and I expected it to be a lot worse than Michael trashing the apartment. But, hey, at least they tried. By the way, my mom left during the movie because she couldn't handle how unrealistic the portrayal of mental illness was.
I also have to say that while A) Their relationship failing and B) Michael having to be re-admitted is the most realistic the movie got, it's also quite depressing. If they're going to show such a rose-colored, public-friendly view of mental illness, why not go all the way and have those two end up together? I felt as if I had wasted two hours of my life.
Really, I see no reason to watch this movie: the psychology is inaccurate, and the romance doomed to disappoint (unless you like that whole "I watched the whole movie and they didn't end up together" thing.) The only good insight it had I felt was in the general public attitude towards mental illness and psychiatric patients, but you could get that in a lot better movies, in my opinion.
First off, this premise has been done before (see: Benny and Joon.) And may I say it was done a heck of a lot better. You see, Joon actually acted like a SCHIZOPHRENIC. In this movie I have to say that the psychiatric ward was the most romanticized I'd ever seen; people acted a little strangely, but lovably so. And don't get me started on Michael who they said was supposed to have schizoaffective disorder. PLEASE. He had two psychotic episodes throughout the movie, and the last one was a result of not taking his pills (or should I say pill; it appears he only needed one! Man, that must be one HECK of a pill.) Yeah, I'm sure if they had a medicine like that every darn schizophrenic in the country would want it, because they completely subdued his symptoms despite anti-psychotic drugs being, well, not very good. Michael also showed no additional signs of schizophrenia, such as speech problems, flat affect, disordered thinking, fragmented world view, inappropriate emotions, and withdrawal from others. His immediate attachment to Letty was quite atypical. In addition to the lack of schizophrenia he did not appear to ever go through mania or depression.
Then don't get me started on Letty or whatever her name is, Miss "Don't Tell Me Who I Can and Can't Date!" It was soooo obvious that she had no idea what she was in for. I loved when the psychiatrist was telling her about Michael's illness and she was essentially like "Whatevah! I do what I want!" She seemed to think that his mental illness was just a cute little quirk that would result in him taking her ring and sneaking out to order pizza in the middle of the night. I was just WAITING for the moment when she would realize exactly what she had gotten herself into. I expected it to come a lot earlier, and I expected it to be a lot worse than Michael trashing the apartment. But, hey, at least they tried. By the way, my mom left during the movie because she couldn't handle how unrealistic the portrayal of mental illness was.
I also have to say that while A) Their relationship failing and B) Michael having to be re-admitted is the most realistic the movie got, it's also quite depressing. If they're going to show such a rose-colored, public-friendly view of mental illness, why not go all the way and have those two end up together? I felt as if I had wasted two hours of my life.
Really, I see no reason to watch this movie: the psychology is inaccurate, and the romance doomed to disappoint (unless you like that whole "I watched the whole movie and they didn't end up together" thing.) The only good insight it had I felt was in the general public attitude towards mental illness and psychiatric patients, but you could get that in a lot better movies, in my opinion.