Simply A Masterpiece

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Good movie but grossly overrated

As Good As It Gets

I must say that with the rather good list of talents on the cast list, then I had my expectations up high for "Neverwas". But I was unfortunately somewhat disappointed with the story told in "Neverwas".The storyline is about a psychiatrist who comes to a remote institution in his childhood area, where he grew up with his father - the author of a renowned children's book. With the help of a schizophrenic resident at the institution, the psychiatrist comes to unravel secrets of his father's book and his part in it.While the story actually wasn't impressive or particularly exciting, then it was by the talent of Ian McKellen, Aaron Eckhart, Nick Nolte and William Hurt that the movie stayed afloat. These actors carried the movie, but had a poor script to work with.This is hardly a movie that I will ever watch again, because it just had no appeal, and I lost concentration and focus on the screen a couple of times throughout the movie, and found myself paying attention to the phone instead.If you enjoy fantasy or fairy tales then "Neverwas" is not the best of choices to satisfy your craving. In my opinion then this was a less than mediocre movie experience.

It took 7 years after it's original release for me to find this gem on a popular online movie rental site, and it instantly became one of the top-ten best movies I have seen in my 43 years.The characters are not only believable and relatable, they make you cheer for them, truly hoping that good things happen to them after all they've been through. I was deeply moved by Sir Ian McKellen's performance, and can relate on certain levels with the world his character lived in and the reasons why. Aaron Eckhart's performance as a man seeking answers to the mysteries of his troubled youth reaches out to anyone who feels as if they've lost touch with their inner child. And Brittany Murphy, who sadly only appeared in 7 more feature roles after this film, with her consistent smile brought some much-needed relief to an otherwise hard-to-deal-with storyline.Beyond the scope of the acting, the production was above par. Director Joshua Michael Stern gives the viewers plenty of eye-candy, with beautiful cinematography, creative camera angles, and a heart-moving score to keep ones heart in a trance whilst watching. The mystery surrounding the plot kept me further entranced as I was working out in my own mind what was real and what was fantasy (a pleasant journey similar to that of the Kevin Costner movie "Dragonfly").This film goes to show that in life sometimes our battles are very difficult to face but there is always a place that makes us feel at ease and able to press on, whether physical or otherwise. Anyone who has experienced any type of mental illness in their family or circle of friends knows that this subject is a serious one, and Neverwas deals with it carefully, and with the utmost of sincerity.

Had the plot to NEVERWAS not been so contrived and stuffed with melodramatic subplots and themes, this film might have worked. Ever-so-slowly discovering that an author of a famous children's fantasy stole the creation from a mental patient and allowing the late thief's son to unwittingly become the detective is story enough. That there was an actual place underlying the mental patient's fantasy, that events gives son some closure and subtle messages like "we all create our own kingdoms", etc., can be interesting and accepted with cleverness and deft touch.Instead NEVERWAS pounds themes, circumstances and profundity into our brains until we become weary. Why not have made son a wash-out who came to work at the institution out of desperation? Instead of making the heroine a clandestine reporter, why not just a local lass whose obsession with the famous kid tale parallel's the mental patient; i.e., how we all live in fantasy worlds, though to different degrees. Why not just toss mom's character along with the characterization given to the other mental patients or to the institute's chief?The all star cast is simply inexplicable and, with the exception of McKellum, unnecessary. In the end, NEVERWAS is enjoyable, though its dinner at a four-star restaurant when all you needed was a slice of pizza.

In some ways this film is reminiscent of films such as "The Fisher King" and "They Might be Giants". In both of those films the central idea was that the mad have a separate reality. In this story, the main character, Zachary, is a psychiatrist attempting to understand the nature of his father's madness. He takes a position at a mental institution where his father had been hospitalized. There he meets and becomes friends with an old man, Gabriel, who knew his father while they were both inmates. He comes to realize that the old man's delusion was the basis for his father's inspiration as a children's fantasy writer. After his father is "cured" through the use of psychotropic drugs of his manic-depression, he loses his will to write. His son had been an integral part of the writing process and when that part of his father's life is over, he feels betrayed. Their relationship is destroyed and the boy, now the psychiatrist, is seeking to come to grips with his unresolved pain. Gabriel is convinced that Zachary has come to rescue him from his enemies and draws him back into the fantasy world. The climax comes when Zachary must either choose between the realities or try to integrate them. The ending is logical and works, but it's too easy. Zachary takes his stand and the world accommodates itself, no problem. The ending should have been edgier. They should have had to work at it more. It is unsatisfying but everything that has gone before is is quite good. There is some high-powered talent at work here among the supporting character actors and they alone make it worthwhile.