Sorry, Thanks (2009)

Really Surprised!

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

This movie seems like it was made by film students whose lives are like this and they got a kick out of putting it on film. The actors/characters just seemed like people they liked, thought were cool, and wanted to put them in a movie. The photography was competent enough but the direction and editing left it in the realm of many independent films that have a lot of non essential scenes that do not push the story forward. There were enough scenes of devoid of both verbal and non-verbal acting. An attempt to carry a "moral' character that was to straighten the hero out and get him to get his s**t together but that never really seemed to take hold. The antihero protagonist character was just annoying but I can see how the filmmakers who like that kind of character feel great about seeing him in a movie. He's cool to them. But just not to most people.

Maybe I'm old fashioned, and call me crazy for feeling this way, but I sort of think movies need to have a point. They need to be entertaining, and if they're not, they need to have some redeeming value that makes their very existence worthwhile. Watching boring people live their boring lives just doesn't cut it with me. Especially when those boring people happen to be either idiotic, amoral, or a little of both. In, Sorry Thanks, I wouldn't even want to be friends with half of these people, let alone be involved in their lives in any manner whatsoever, so why would I care to watch them for 90 minutes? Main character, Max is an idiot twenty-something who has a dead end job he doesn't even try at...when not at said job, he's with his adorable girlfriend whom he pretty much treats like garbage or friends who seem to think he is a douche bag lacking in morals (in fact, there are two scenes where they tell him he is immoral and an ass). Oh, and on the side, he's having sex with Kira behind his adorable and loving girlfriend's back. Kira is. Well, how do you even describe Kira? First off, she's odd. She makes odd faces, she makes odd jokes, and she just acts odd. Max is somehow attracted to this, so why not destroy another person by sleeping with odd girl? Kira has a new job as a copy editor and a string of random boyfriends who aren't boyfriends. Like Max, she seems to be down with messing with people- her friends seem to do the same thing Max's friends do- sort of push the idea that she's kind of a jerk. Kira is, admittedly, slightly less of a douche bag than Max. Now that I've explained the two main characters, people whom you'd probably want to get AS far away from in real life, I'll explain the plot. Oh wait, I can't, as there is no plot. It's basically 90 mins of watching two assholes who think they're clever and cool do whatever the hell they want.There are small flashes of likability among the two main characters, and we keep getting scenes of Max being semi-charming in a "I'm 20 something but I act like I'm 6" way. But, in the end, little tidbits of charm don't change the fact that these are just unlikeable characters that serve little purpose other than to exist on video. None of them drive any story forward (as there really is no story), none of them add anything to the overall mood of the movie, and none of them really matter at all. If I wanted to watch morons be boring and violating all sorts of trust with other people, I'd turn on reality TV. Like I said- movies need to fulfill a purpose. God only knows what purpose writers, Dia Sokol and Lauren Veloski, thought their movie served. I can only assume they were bored one day. Sadly, it's films like Sorry, Thanks that will continue to give indie films a bad name. People will watch this and say, "see, this is why I never watch independent cinema! The writing sucks, the characters suck, and the acting is, in some parts, miserable." (the cat lady comes to mind immediately). It's a shame, because there are some really great indie films out there. This just isn't one of them.

This is a delightful and all-too-real portrayal of several 20-somethings stumbling through their lives and doing the best they can, but not really getting anywhere and not understanding why. Wiley Wiggins does a great job as Max whose life is as aimless as his work.It combines the Hollywood buddy and relationship movies without being either exactly, but rather becomes more of a comment on how something isn't quite there.It's very well directed, acted and beautifully written with an absolutely perfect ending. I thoroughly enjoyed it, even with all of my cringing. Yes, I will see it again.

If you're an Andrew Bujalski fan, this is not to be missed. Bujalski's in top-form here (and he gets a bigger acting part than usual), playing a friend who has zero patience for his lamer by the day man-child BFF, but all the patience in the world for his beard.Remember Wiley Wiggins (from "Dazed and Confused")? He's no longer the scrawny freshman, but he's still a man-child here. He plays pathetic like a real pro, and it's truly funny stuff. To its credit, this movie doesn't use the man-child character the way most bromances do. It just sets him up to implode. And we watch. Made me cringe, but it was also a welcome relief.All around, I'd say "Sorry, Thanks" takes the best impulses of a "buddy comedy" and a "relationship movie" combined, but without all the Hollywood fluff tricks. This movie is just something much more interesting. Highly recommend.