It’s Groundhog Day, but with the genius comedy, beautifully handled themes/character development, and overall enjoyment being replaced with sappy teen drama, generic, unlikable characters, and an overabundance of pretentiousness. There’s absolutely no reason to watch Before I Fall over Groundhog Day, unless you’re a masochist for bad films.
A Dog’s Purpose:
Apparently, a dog’s purpose in life is to provide naïve commentary about sad situations that, ironically, make the situation even more depressing. A Dog’s Purpose is, unfortunately, drowned by its consistent usage of dejecting events. For every lighthearted, sweet, and/or touching moment, there’s two downhearted, gloomy, and/or tragic ones to depress the viewer. No one wants to see animals put into dejecting situations (unless they’re sadistic a$$holes), yet A Dog’s Purpose continuously places its reincarnating dog in a multitude of gloomy circumstances. Where your average film may have its audience bear with a single doggy death, A Dog’s Purpose hits its viewers with a whopping four different occasions—each sad in their own unique manner (particularly the third death, which seems to contradict the film’s message by ending with the dog’s owner in an even more tragic situation). Even with its relatively upbeat ending, A Dog’s Purpose is simply too overall depressing to succeed with its premise.
Mean Dreams:
Interestingly, what I enjoy the most about this coming-of-age thriller are the calmer scenes. The brief opening segments (done entirely without dialogue) between protagonist Casey (Josh Wiggins) and his new friend Jonas (Sophie Nélisse) hanging out are genuinely heartwarming—effectively creating a bond between the two teens, as well as an emotional connection for the viewer, in a noticeably quick timespan. Another endearing moment is when Casey—who’s just been told he can ask anything—coyly asks Jonas if she’ll be his girlfriend (it’s both cute and adorkable). These little moments between the teens, as well as between Casey and his dad, helped me grow attached to the characters, care about their problems, and balanced out the story’s grimmer, somber scenes. Mean Dreams also contains one of the late Bill Paxton’s final roles, and while his character is a bit too over-the-top evil for my liking, Paxton’s solid performance helps balance out the excessiveness.
