C.O.G. (2013)

You won't be disappointed!

Why so much hype?

Very Cool!!!

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

I'd never heard of David Sedaris, and this movie doesn't motivate me to change that. If he's anything at all like the David in this movie, he's a rich, spoiled, shallow, obnoxious, narcissistic, condescending, self-pitying, passive-aggressive jerk. Not the kind of person I want in my life.I might have liked this movie if only Curly (or Jon, or anybody!) had beaten that you-can't-get-mad-at-me-I'm-just-a-lost-little-boy smirk off his face, but it didn't happen. Too bad. Other reviewers talk about how he grew and changed in the course of the movie, but I guess they saw a different movie. He was a spoiled, self-pitying jerk in the beginning and he was still a spoiled, self-pitying jerk at the end.I thought I liked Jonathan Groff (he's what drew me to this movie) but the more he plays obnoxious characters like this the more I suspect it may be because he's like them. And Dennis O'Hare is so reliably good that it's surprising how bad he is here. The Christianity shtick in this movie feels completely false, sour and vindictive, like something shoehorned in only to let the writer settle a mean-spirited old grudge.I stuck with this movie all the way to the end, and the best thing I can say about it is that it did, finally, end. I hated it.

This shouldn't be called really a Gay themed movie (the lead isn't gay at all) but for the sake of few gay scene it does called like it. This movie runs a story like in the Bible "The Prodigal Son" sort of like that. An arrogant, over confident, humble, smart ass, boastful, full of pride person that as he step into trying new in his life he found a lot of contradiction of what he believes in himself. As he met new people, he experience a lot of mixes, on thoughts, characteristics, etc; that not all people around him is just how he pictured, for example is his own mother( his mother also cares for him but its not as what he believe).The movie is just a mix scenes of experiences of a person though you might learn in life but acting were not so good played.

For those who admire the writings of David Sedaris (essays and short stories - Barrel Fever, Naked (1997), Holidays on Ice (1997), Me Talk Pretty One Day (2000), Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (2004), and When You Are Engulfed in Flames (2008, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary, and Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls (2013) and thus know that much of Sedaris's humor is autobiographical and self-deprecating, and often concerns his family life, his middle-class upbringing in the suburbs of Raleigh, North Carolina, Greek heritage, being out as a gay man, jobs, education, drug use, obsessive behaviors and his life in France, London, and the English South Downs) will be pleased to see his humor translated to the screen by writer/director Kyle Patrick Alvarez. The other aspect of this at times controversial film that makes it important is the choice of casting Jonathan Groff, the gay actor who begins the television series 'Looking' this spring. The choices make the film even more enjoyable because the emphasis is not on the gay aspect but instead on the trials of coming of age and struggling with all the bulwarks society places in our way.David (meant to be David Sedaris) is a cocky young man who graduates from Yale, yet to escape his dysfunctional family and see the world as it really is, travels to Oregon to work on an apple farm run by Hobbs (Dean Stockwell). Struggling as a non-Hispanic worker he is befriended by a driver named Curly (Corey Stoll) who picks up on David's sexual ambiguity and attempts to seal his fate. David escapes, falls under the wing Jon (Denis O'Hare), a evangelistic Christian who has a history of alcohol addition and anger management all of which he hides under the cloak of being a C.O.G. (Child of God). David joins Jon in making jade clocks in the shape of Oregon to sell at the fair. He 'sees the light' and decides to become a C.O.G. and from there the story plays out in very strange ways. Out of his element, he finds his lifestyle and notions being picked apart by everyone who crosses his path. And his final coming out realization is gently subtle.The cast is uniformly excellent, but the major kudos go to Jonathan Groff who demonstrates his fine acting skills and magnetic screen presence. The film is after all just a story about a boy of our times. It resonates well. Grady Harp

As written in the instruction, this story starts out with a college(?) student, with a lot going on in his head, heading to an apple farm. The overall images and colors used were beautiful (although there were no graphics). Plus, in someway, the movie powerfully overwhelmed the viewer's emotions. However, as for me, its main idea is nontransparent and irresponsible.First of all, it is hard to understand the director's main point. There are too many messages in this film. From its beginning till end, it is filled with new topics in constantly changing environment. It concerns problems like family, education, love, society, identity and religion, each and every of them very sensitive and emotionally powerful. I was soaked in by those and the main characters feelings. However, as I was about to concentrate on one on them, it moved on to another. Second, even though one can figure out the film's point, it does not take any responsibilities. It just leaves out everything in the open, and does not give a closure. Although I admit that there can be a method of letting the audience think, this movie makes them feel hollow. What I mean is that, what good are any messages if they do not mean anything? It would be as meaningless as someone who is blaming one's problems rather than suggesting a solution or at least trying to find one.