Touches You

A Masterpiece!

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

**Warning** Semi-Spoiler AlertWell folks, I had my hopes up for this movie. Due to the cast and some of the reviews. But...The story line was too convoluted. The characters were not very likable. And ultimately, the "endings" were not happy at all. I go out of my way to look for under-appreciated or even quirky movies because I enjoy a broad spectrum of genre's. I was expecting something different but entertaining. Unfortunately, although the film was different, it was also difficult to get myself to stay through to the finish. The biggest problem was, from my observation, the director had a "message" he was trying too hard to push on the public. He went out of his way to make some of the characters dysfunctional and downright mean, in an effort to make his point. Ultimately, not only was the message false, but it made for poor film making.

I thought this was better than expected. It has some flaws, and the constant title-card telling us what is going on can be a little too pretentious and overly proud of itself in a way tat does get to be an annoyance, but it also works to make the film feel different from others of its kind. It's a Nice sort of quirk, not without its flaws, The acting in this is truly terrific. Kudrow excels, as she always does, but surprisingly (athough not really) the best of the bunch was Laura Dern, injecting so much pathos and backstory and emotion into her little scenes and into her one big scene, which she delivers perfectly. A fantastic actress who's never gotten the due she deserves, definitely a film worth watching. This is definitely recommended, and rather underrated when looking at reviews.

Don Roos wrote and directed this lively, sometimes poignant, but not especially funny comedy-drama centering around an abortion counselor's secret that she had given birth to her step-brother's baby when she was a teenager and quickly gave it up for adoption. In this role, Lisa Kudrow really excels with the writer-director's dryly observant style: she's loose but not flailing, inquisitive but not harping, apprehensive but not frightened. Kudrow (whose comic timing reminds one of Roseanne's in the early years of her TV sitcom) mixes a look of anxiety, despair, nervousness and anticipation with astonishing skill--even when her character is humiliated (or humiliates herself), Kudrow has a way of keeping all the flightiness grounded in some form of reality. Matching her, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Tom Arnold have some wonderful early scenes; she's a born user and a killer karaoke singer, while he plays the father of the gay 21-year-old drummer whom Gyllenhaal has already seduced and discarded. It's too bad we don't get more of this relationship, and also unfortunate that Roos covers up most of their dialogue with soundtrack music (it's a coupling which happens in montage). Roos plants little subtitles throughout the movie to help sort out who's-who, and this works to some degree (yet it's a relief when the device is momentarily given a rest). Some of the other story threads are dim (a couple of which center on gay men turning their homosexuality on and off like a light-switch), but Kudrow's work and Tom Arnold's natural, easy-going presence keep the film absorbing and often appealing. And nobody sings "Just the Way You Are" like Gyllenhaal. **1/2 from ****

Roos's comedy which shows several stories of love, family problems, and life's unpredictability. I thought the ensemble cast did a good job, and although Roos's approach was very admirable, i don't know if he accomplished what he set out to do. The film is an ambitious attempt, and it has good intentions, but it feels a bit misguided at times. Thats not to say it isn't good, i actually liked it a lot, i thought it had a great screenplay, good performances, and pretty good atmosphere. Perhaps if Roos got someone else to direct, it could have been done better. Overall a good effort from Roos though. IMDb Rating: 6.7, my rating: 8/10