Great Flick

[x2OhSeven]

Movie started out a little funny, or strange, but became very interestign and entertaining quickly. i saw a sneak preview about a month ago and was very impressed with the movie, and gave it high marks on IMDB.com. I suggest you all go watch the movie as soon as you can, for it changes alot of the ways you think about life and the opposite sex.

[Chris Knipp]

Definitely Roger Dodger is a wonderful role for Campbell Scott and a strong first film with a great supporting cast and it sure dips the male seducer in an acid bath. I went to it expecting it to be a lot more fun than it was, though. Roger's world ends up being pretty repulsive and depressing. There isn't a lot of wit and irony going on here. Everything about the man is negative starting with his writing ad copy to make people feel bad about themselves. His analogous seduction strategy is to make women feel bad about themselves and need him to make them feel better, but of course it all comes from his feeling bad about himself and about men in general, as the tour de force opening dialogue makes clear.

The ray of hope of course is young Nick, and Jesse Eisenberg brings just the right fresh energy to the role. But the effect of the evening is to wear Nick down. The final scene may have an appropriately cool irony to it, but the fact that it seems a bit tacked on arises from the downward structure of the movie: something has to be tacked on to save the ending.

Another major thing that keeps the movie from being fun is its overly dark look and confusing camera placement. The cameraman seems to be continually trying to hide stuff from us in what is already the very dim environment of night clubs and bars. Dark effects can be terribly romantic in film, chiaroscuro can be beautiful and dramatic, but this murky gloom where you sometimes can't see a bloody thing is simply dispiriting. A major error that has to be pointed out in what otherwise is an original and watchable, if not at all uplifting, movie.