Bending All the Rules (2002)

Lack of good storyline.

Beautiful, moving film.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I've heard of TV sitcoms about "nothing" but never a movie. If I managed to make sense of the ending, the movie was a young woman whose parents had a dysfunctional relationship, thus she herself is unable to commit to a relationship. However, even with such a thin premise, the movie is astoundingly devoid of anything that would draw a viewer in. The acting is cringe-worthy, led by Coleen Porch as Kenna. Just because you have a pout that resembles Angelina Jolie doesn't mean you don't need to emote. She displays one expression the entire movie, befuddled amusement.There's some decent cinematography but the direction is abysmal. It's as if Coleman Francis was given the script to Hobgoblins. In fact, there's a nightclub scene that nearly plumbs the same depths as the similar scene in Hobgoblins. Is it really possible to speak to the club DJ, across the room, using your indoor voice, while in a "hopping" club? Avoid this turkey at all costs.

This viewer falls into the category of most of those who have written a response to this film - it is just simply feeble. Clue: the film was written and directed by two people Peter Knight and Morgan Klein and the hodgepodge of collaboration shows. Couple the bad script with a cast of amateurs (Note: this was WAY before Bradley Cooper had been transformed into a box office sensation - both acting wise and physique-wise) and the result is a film that should have been left in the can.Nerdy Kenna (Colleen Porch) is simultaneously dating two guys - DJ Jeff (Bradley Cooper) and Businessman Martin (David Gail). It is an open relationship in that both men know Kenna's proclivities, that she has no intention of settling down, being a hedonist - apparently related to her Carnival background: her father Mortie (Kurt McKinney) is a carny man whose preoccupied with bad mouthing Kenna's mother. None of that information really fits into the story despite the fact that a lot of screen time is devoted to the carny aspect. Needless to say the three way relationship can't last and how it resolves is the remainder of the story - if you can make it through this mess long enough to see the fuzzy ending.The sad aspect of seeing this film is the reminder of the many, many really fine Indie films of quality that never make it to the public. Money backing must be the only answer, though it would seem that finding backers for this cheesy film would have been a supreme challenge. Grady Harp

Unlike other reviewers, I did manage to make it all the way through. Barely. It was kind of like a porn, but without any porn. Believe me that was the only thing that kept me going until the end... waiting, hopeful for something redeeming. Bad story (NO story), terrible script, awful acting, sound and camera work as if they were recorded on someone's Handicam. Edits between scenes that are worse than home movies. If I were Bradley Cooper, I would seek to buy out the rights to this thing and have it forever locked away. How do such bad movies ever get made? Surely there are dozens or even hundreds of scripts out there that SHOULD be made.. and made at least half-well.

... especially for new Bradley Cooper fans reviewing his career... This movie is just awful. I think it's supposed to be artsy and intelligent, but all we're left of is some sort of good quality porn (without most of the key-elements of the genre)filled with randomly thrown in SAT words... I don't recommend it to anyone, especially if you're expecting a nice romantic movie. It's easy... More than easy ... Cheap! So.. the whole thing - as I understood it for as much as I could bring myself to watch without punching myself in the face - is the story of a girl who's been around jerks her whole life. From her father, an absent mother who suddenly appears (soaps, anyone?) and now she is apparently famous in her circles for having two boyfriends - and as far as I understood they knew about each other ... and somehow accepted it. For the lady is so bland and acts so badly that any man would want her ... apparently. We are also being "treated" with flashbacks of her childhood - the child acts even worse and at a certain moment there is a scene with a boy on some shores when they have such a believable conversation ... while smoking, of course. The same lines could be thrown by the plummer of the fire fighter visiting the lady's house... For God's sake, this movie is an abomination!!! The one star is for Bradley Cooper only... the rest ... should be silence!