"Rid of Me" is a bad movie. The story is boring, the acting poor, cinematography looks more like local news footage, and it displays the emptiest and most tasteless production design I have ever seen. After "Rid of Me" I think I have seen enough zooms and jumpy cuts for the rest of my movie watching life. It is almost like the filmmakers involved tried to define what a bad movie should be.
The film does not know what it is about or what genre it wants to settle into and it seems to be more of failed attempt at an extended acting reel for Ms O' Grady than any kind of movie. O' Grady's performance is so self aware that it is painful to watch and makes her already unlikeable presence unbearable. That said one look at O' Grady's acting reel here on IMDb does show that she can act well when cast in comedic, superficial and bitchy roles but when she goes for the "look at my suffering, my frail humanity" type of roles she quite simply lacks the depth and likabilty to deliver. So in this regard it is Mr Westby's fault in the casting of O' Grady.
Westby himself has found an esoteric niche as an against the grain, scrappy, DIY filmmaker who showed a few sparks of B movie talent in "Film Geek" and "Auteur" largely due to the strong performance of his usual lead Melkhasian. He also has to be respected for sticking in the biz for over 20 years with no success at all. Now however with "Rid of Me" a stagnant ride into the niche may now also be wedged out.
To their credit O' Grady and Westby are relentless and shameless marketers of their bad movie. They hire the best publicity teams to extract a few good reviews through obligations and relationships, and through who knows what else (because any positive review on this film is very suspect), and bombard the waves of FaceBook with these rare reviews and other completely unnecessary, but somehow titillating to some, information.
They truly are the FaceBook online cheap reality show that no network created and they do have a small electronic audience that enjoys swimming in their sea of fakery, exaggeration and delusion; only as long as it is free, I suspect. I want my money back from being conned into watching this terrible film but writing this review has made me feel better and hope it saves some others from the same scam.
The film does not know what it is about or what genre it wants to settle into and it seems to be more of failed attempt at an extended acting reel for Ms O' Grady than any kind of movie. O' Grady's performance is so self aware that it is painful to watch and makes her already unlikeable presence unbearable. That said one look at O' Grady's acting reel here on IMDb does show that she can act well when cast in comedic, superficial and bitchy roles but when she goes for the "look at my suffering, my frail humanity" type of roles she quite simply lacks the depth and likabilty to deliver. So in this regard it is Mr Westby's fault in the casting of O' Grady.
Westby himself has found an esoteric niche as an against the grain, scrappy, DIY filmmaker who showed a few sparks of B movie talent in "Film Geek" and "Auteur" largely due to the strong performance of his usual lead Melkhasian. He also has to be respected for sticking in the biz for over 20 years with no success at all. Now however with "Rid of Me" a stagnant ride into the niche may now also be wedged out.
To their credit O' Grady and Westby are relentless and shameless marketers of their bad movie. They hire the best publicity teams to extract a few good reviews through obligations and relationships, and through who knows what else (because any positive review on this film is very suspect), and bombard the waves of FaceBook with these rare reviews and other completely unnecessary, but somehow titillating to some, information.
They truly are the FaceBook online cheap reality show that no network created and they do have a small electronic audience that enjoys swimming in their sea of fakery, exaggeration and delusion; only as long as it is free, I suspect. I want my money back from being conned into watching this terrible film but writing this review has made me feel better and hope it saves some others from the same scam.