Warning: Spoilers

When I saw this movie as a new release at Blockbuster, I wondered why I'd never heard of it before in light of the big name actors involved. I was excited to view it, thinking it would be one of those under-appreciated but great films that so often don't get the attention they deserve.

My first thought was that I was disappointed they would cast Gary Oldman as Rolfe. There are so many talented little people I thought it was a slap in the face. But I understand Oldman was the weight behind the film; so I can accept the casting. And I thought his performance was wonderful. Even knowing ahead of time who he was, I still struggled to recognize him throughout the film.

Once I got past that, I tried to understand the point behind the film. Was it supposed to be a comedy? A drama? An introspective? The direction seemed unclear to me, and I had a hard time getting attached to the story. Despite being able to greatly enjoy Peter Dinklage's (LOVE him!) and Patricia Arquette's performances, I struggled to find out the purpose of their characters, how much of the my attention was supposed to be focused on them, Rolfe, Steven or Carol. But I hung in there.

Then a little more than halfway through the film I was invested. I felt strongly for Steven and Carol and their situation. I bought into their love for each other, and I wanted them to make it; so my hopes were high. SPOILER: I thought their separation was the turning point and my heart ached for the happy ending I wanted. Now maybe I was fooled by Matthew McConaughey's and Kate Beckinsale's chemistry, which I thought was palpable and believable. But I had no reason to believe that Steven wouldn't make the changes he needed to make.

I also had no reason to think that Carol and Rolfe would get together. No, I did not see it coming, nor do I feel I should have. I read that Beckinsale's character "fell in love with" Goldman's character. When did that happen? Did I blink? I didn't buy that plot line for a second, and I feel that's because I wasn't led to. The writing and direction fell flat there, making the ending much too abrupt and confusing. In fact, I felt cheated and even a little angered by the ending. I don't know what the writer intended, but the film I saw did not lead up to this. Not only was Matthew McConaughey's character more likable and real to me than Gary Oldman's (a wonderful job, but a bitter character), but there was ZERO chemistry between Oldman and Beckinsale. Their ending up together with Steven's child left me feeling heartbroken and offended...enough to add this comment here. (Normally I don't presume enough of myself to comment, but I was so affected I couldn't help myself.)

All of this is reason enough for me not to have enjoyed this film, not to mention the fact that the dialogue felt contrived in parts, the intent seemed unclear, and the editing felt choppy, and I feel like there are too many loose ends. I gave the film a 3. It's saving grace was some convincing performances.

This film premiered at Sundance and I was happy to have the opportunity to see it. I am a big fan of Gary Oldman and was looking forward to seeing him play a dwarf. The storyline was interesting; however the movie fell flat. Strangely enough, I was distracted by Oldman's portrayal of a dwarf...I kept wondering how they made him look so small instead of concentrating on the story. I never did figure out what Peter Dinklage and Patricia Arquette's characters had to do with the story; perhaps just to show that little people have relationships with "normal" size people...I don't know. I thought Dinklage, Arquette, Oldman and Kate Beckinsale all turned in good performances, but somehow all of them couldn't save this movie.

It's hard to say what this movie exactly tries to achieve. It awfully tries to be a political correct movie towards 'little people' and the movie almost becomes documentary like and doesn't even try to hide this. The moral of the movie is too cheesy and overdone.

It's painfully obvious that writer Bill Weiner is still a beginning writer. The movie is written awfully simple and has some downward horrible dialog in it.

It's a big mystery to me why so many big stars appeared in this movie. Gary Oldman, Matthew McConaughey, Kate Beckinsale and Patricia Arquette are some big names in the business. They are given awful material to work with and the movie felt like a waste of their talent. Especially Gary Oldman seemed out of place. He plays a 'little person' in this movie and to me he didn't looked very convincing. It was highly obvious to me that Oldman was sitting on his knees the whole movie, which was terribly distracting. Couldn't they had just cast a real 'little person' for that role? There are some many great little actors out there. Oldman was also terribly unconvincing as Matthew McConaughey TWIN BROTHER. They look absolutely nothing like each other and on top of that Oldman is also too old to be believable as McConaughey's twin brother. This movie made me realize that Oldman is really getting old now. He also looked old in "Batman Begins" but I though it was due to make-up. This movie however made me realize that Oldman really looks as old as that.

But of course this movie is far from the worst ever. The movie is professionally good looking and of course, even though they were given awful material to work with, the famous actors also bring some sparks and life to the movie.

The story and moral of the movie are too obvious. It's certainly a watchable movie but I in no case would recommend it to anyone.

5/10

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