Don't listen to the negative reviews

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

A Proud Indie Production that wears its Independence like so many Accessories on a Woman's Dresser. Every Shot and Line of Dialog Smacks of Profundity and is as Obvious as it is Agenda Driven.Unshackled Minority Baggage left over from Less Enlightened Times Resides and Clings to the Film and is a Brightly Lit Magnifying Mirror that Reflects its Frustrated Female Angst and is Relentless in the Narrative Drive to the Point of We Get the Point...Moving On...Please.The Movie Arrives at a Conclusion that Many will Find Familiar in the Schizo Sub Genre of the Psychological Thriller with Directors like Hitchcock, DePalma, Lynch and Others Peppering Their Filmography with the Likes of this one.It's too Heavy Handed and Obvious from the First Act that these Two Characters, formerly Best Friends are Going to Split at some Point because the Tension is Telling Us that. One Stares, Glares, and is Confrontational and the other Shrinks with Self-Deprecation Routinely.It's an Acting Showcase for Makenzie Davis and Caitlin Fitzgerald and both are Up to the Task and are Compelling. The Writer (Lawrence Michael Divine) and the Director (Sophia Takal) are Gaming a Well Worn System of Cinematic Clichés and Camera, Editing, Film Flourishes that are Signature Stylistic Touchstones from the Toolbox of other Filmmakers.Influence is a Kind Description of what Goes On here. It's a Good Try from just Getting Started Film Artists but while Their Creativity is Not in Doubt, Their Ability to Punctuate the Picture with a Period or an Exclamation Point leaves the Audience with a Frustrating Question Mark that makes for an Unsatisfying Conclusion for all the Hard Work.

Best friends Anna and Beth take a weekend trip to Big Sur, hopeful to re-establish a bond broken by years of competition and jealousy. Tensions mount, however, leading to an unexpected yet inevitable confrontation, changing both of their lives...forever. Always Shine is not just a bad thriller but it might actually have one of the worst introductions to a character that i have ever seen in my life i mean we actually meet Beth played by Caitlin FitzGerald threw a dumb sequence where she is talking directly to the camera and at the same time she is having sex and then when we meet Anna played by Mackenzie Davis she is just screaming and yelling directly to the camera about her money and as the film goes on she is basically annoying and just there in her own world. The movie makes no sense, the acting is awful, the script is awful and pretty much the whole film is just a big and giant mistake. (F)

Two actresses take a break from L.A. and travel to a house in the country, the isolation brings to the surface dark emotions such as jealousy and distrust. Before long, events start to deteriorate badly.This psychological thriller is one of those which plays around with the concept of the unreliable narrator. At times, we are unsure of what is real and what is not. The introductions to both characters taps into this right away where we have a close-up shot of the actress head on, the first woman is auditioning for a part in front of a group of men, while the second woman is engaging in a heated exchange with a man who is trying to rip her off. This latter sequence tricks you into thinking it too could be an actress reading for a role and the reveal shocks us when we discover it is actually real. The idea of these scenes I guess is to show that women exist essentially in a man's world and have to put up with things men generally do not. So, one of the themes of the film is the pressures society puts on women. In this scenario, these tensions result in two friends going to war with each other. We slowly see little niggles gather momentum and insecurities create space that is filled by negative emotions. Both women are actresses, with one being more successful than the other; I guess you could say the less successful one is the better actress but has been less willing to pander to the will of male producers. Professional jealousies intertwine with all other tensions leading to a dark place.Acting by both leads, Mackenzie Davis and Caitlin Fitzgerald, is very good, especially Davis whose character ultimately runs the gauntlet of emotional states including assertive, insecure, meek and aggressive. The final act compounds this where there is a fusing of identities and events develop a more dream-like ambiance. It's, overall, a pretty compelling concoction of ideas which I found very involving. You have interesting characters with differing motivations and huge amounts going on under the surface. This results in a narrative which from an early point suggests cracks in the surface and hints at sinister events. As a viewer, you are actively encouraged to piece things together without being spoon-fed the answers. It's, on the whole, a very satisfying combination of a lot of disparate ideas that's comes together to create something really interesting.

The main thing which struck me about the movie is the brilliant acting by the 2 girls. Its a very good movie about how dynamics of friendship change in face of competition and jealousy. It also makes one think about what makes people likable. This is such a fragile subject and deals with core of human emotions and dynamics of relationship. The movie was quite engaging even though it is simply about 2 characters on vacation. The viewer is attracted to learn more and more about them which makes it good watch. The girls come out as really charming and I was stunned by the acting skills. Its really awesome to watch them play out those emotions.