User Reviews

I knew from the trailer that this movie wasn't likely to be a gem, but wow, it was terrible. The writing is so forced, the dialogue unnatural. I don't mind overwritten, stagy dialogue if it's clever. David Mamet, for example. This script TRIES to be a writer's movie, but it plays like something written for a community college screenwriting class. Night school. It's BAD. And I got the feeling throughout that the casting was prioritizing relationships over talent. I imagine those Malibu friends are the real-life friends/girlfriends of the exec producers...I can't think of another reason to cast them.

There are two truly inexcusable elements to this movie. Well, more than two to be honest, but the worst were the breaking of the fourth wall during the Malibu parties and the inclusion of a Greek chorus style three piece rock band. They showed up whenever the lead was in crisis and screamed some unintelligible lyrics at her. What the hell were they singing anyway? And WHY? Just, why?? I don't think the writer/director understands the importance of a Greek chorus. They're the proxy for the audience in the story; they're not just shrill window dressing. And the party member speaking TO the audience didn't add anything either. I don't need your shallow analysis of Malibu social scene, which in this case amounts to about a dozen forcibly diverse partygoers in unlikely wardrobe choices. I found the casting especially maddening and unexplained, and I'm an African American producer!! That friend group, especially in freaking Malibu requires an explanation, or at least a nod. The writer went to the trouble to over explain every other detail of the characters, going so far as to name one of them "Nice Guy," lest we miss the point. But they don't explain why this therapist is the only white person (again, in MALIBU) in her friend group?

Finally, they try to cover too many bases, steal too many themes (and writing styles), and do NONE of it well. They cannot seem to decide if this is a rom com or a melodrama. If it's a romp about sexual misadventures or a cautionary tale about drug abuse. And they sure did wrap up that drug storyline hastily. Again, no explanation or even one scene showing her recovery journey. Simply one day she's lost her job due in part to her drug use, and the next day she's being recommended for a job...at a Malibu drug rehab. Umm...okay.

I wish this was one of those "it's so bad, it's good!" movies, but it isn't. It's just an illustration of how, with the right connections, even untalented people can get their movies green lit. And that is the real tragedy. There are people in the world and in Hollywood who have true talent and are being ignored, and yet this amateur script gets produced. It's a shame.