Visitors Review

DIRKR (2012-05-23 06:53)

Groaning All Around

This film has a great and diverse cast.The main character has everything going for him but is miserable,selfish,adolescent.So he writes a play-all naval gazing while he hides from his family on the john,vents to his best friend,and ignores his job.The props are 1968 to 1972 and things pop up in 1972 that didn't exist until 1976.A very bad bad movie, a silly selfish hero,out of place props,and an after school special script.

KatjaE (2012-05-23 00:37)

boring

Did not like, nearly left half way through. What was the point??? The guy had a good life but didn't know why he was unhappy - a very unsympathetic character.

matevz-vidmar1989 (2012-05-22 09:00)

Maybe it is love that makes us strange.

I just watched this movie and i must admit it wasn't brilliant butbetter then a lot of other movies.The plot starts with a family seemingly happy but as you have alreadyguessed nothing is as it seems. The guy is a thinker while the wife isnot so much. Then blah blah blah and the guy writes a sarcastic play,leaves his wife, and finally gets together with his true soul mate.Now a response to the previous review: A guy criticized that the plotmakes us completely unsympathetic to the main character due to hisungratefulness to what he has(the happy family stuff). I agree that youshouldn't not leave a marriage in ruin like that but in order toachieve that you need to be on the same level of understanding withyour partner. That doesn't mean that you always agree but it means heat least gets your "multiple sarcasm". Im not talking aboutintelligence here well maybe I am so what some people get it some don'tthat is just how it is.Anyway not a bad movie but i think it dint reach the right audience.

Tom Keogh (2012-05-21 20:31)

Multiple Sarcasms has a way of creatively meandering into unexpected pockets of comedy and poignancy, heading toward some kind of eventual grace, a little like real life.

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat (2012-05-18 04:34)

A tedious and unappealing portrait of the obsession of a middle-age architect to write a play.

rps-2 (2012-05-17 07:45)

To the point

This film examines an interesting aspect of life...friendship betweenmen and women without sex or romance. It's something I personallyrelate to because my best friends are women (and most of them are alsoclose friends of my wife.) It also is a very well written and welldirected film. The lines are good and they are well delivered in a verynatural and understated manner, almost as though the scenes wereimprov. The concept of the play within a play, certainly not anoriginal dramatic device, is, nevertheless, done effectively. Thiswasn't a big buck film, either in its production costs or its boxoffice. But I suspect the people who made it are motivated more byartistry than by avarice.

Ronnie Scheib (2012-05-14 18:50)

Timothy Hutton's fine, loose-limbed perf as a man adrift lifts Multiple Sarcasms, frosh scribe-helmer Brooks Branch's male menopause apologia, out of cliche-ridden territory -- at least temporarily.

Suzanne Licht (2012-05-14 15:01)

A Brave Film About the Creative Process

Multiple Sarcasms Timothy Hutton gives a great performance of a man whois tired of his work and married life, and is driven to work out who heis by writing a play. It is a process that is riddled with angst, hiscreative self attempting to emerge in spite of the inevitableobstacles, in the form of his wife, who he fears "doesn't get him," tohis guilt about striking out for himself in an authentic way aspossibly harming his gifted and appealing daughter, his job as anarchitect, which ceases to satisfy him creatively. His unkempt, "justgotten out of bed" look, complete with five o'clock shadow, hair with awill of its own and rumpled clothes give a physical presence to hisdiscontent and yearning for something more. At times, there aresurrealistic scenes, reminiscent of "The Singing Detective," (which areinspired, and for me some of the best moments of the film) where here-writes interactions that had painful ramifications for him, e.g. hisargument with his wife while they were visiting her family forChristmas, and his well-intentioned but maladroit attempt to come tohis daughter's aid during a crisis at school. The other actors givenatural and resonant performances, including Dana Delany with her cool,porcelain sadness as his wife, and Mira Sorvino, the wise, funny andvulnerable best friend (an iconic representation of every man's"anima"), India Ennenga as the precocious and lovable daughter, andMario Van Peebles, playing against his usual type, as his gay friend(he gives a monologue that is so effective that it would be a goodaudition piece). Stockard Channing was perfectly cast as the agent,industry and worldly-wise, funny and charming. It is an ode toManhattan as well as a right-brained, intuitive look into a man'sstruggle to become his authentic self through self-expression. At timeshe appears childlike, selfish, depressed, even crazed, and yet he isdoing what he has to do to make life bearable. This brave gem of a filmpresents a classic view of the struggle of a creative person, highs,lows, absurdity and revelations. The images captured by his daughterand superimposed with artfully free cursive reminded me of some of thework of Corita Kent, projected into a new medium, for a new century.The music was well-chosen, beautifully performed, fit the narrative andemphasized the emotion and themes.

Betsy Sharkey (2012-05-14 13:52)

Multiple Sarcasms is Woody Allen lite -- there's a lot of introspective fumbling around and intellectual foreplay. But in the end, instead of a satisfying climax, it feels like someone is faking it.

Noel Murray (2012-05-13 18:02)

From the jokes about Hutton overreacting to his daughter's menstruation to the comic ruminations about the relative attractiveness of genitalia, Multiple Sarcasms often plays like a bad stand-up routine dramatized by serious actors.

Frank Swietek (2012-05-12 19:23)

Might serve a useful therapeutic function for its writer-director, but for the rest of us the exercise in self-examination will have a much less beneficial effect, unless you suffer from insomnia.

(2012-05-12 08:21)

It's like Brooks Branch was reading my diary

I can't remember where I saw a reference to this film but I owe whomever tweeted about it, mentioned it on FB, or what have you a debt of gratitude. It spoke to me completely in the sense that all three main characters resonated with my own experiences. I guess the reviewer who hated it so profoundly hasn't experienced the combination of bad timing, ambivalence, and cold feet that seems to dictate the course of so many relationships, nor pondered whether the consequences of our actions or inactions in this context are somehow fated by our deep character flaws or rather within our control. For me a huge portion of the film rang very true, and the parts that didn't still worked as hyperbole to add emphasis and humor. I also thoroughly appreciated the original and refreshing art direction and the soundtrack. And while not a feel-good film, the bittersweet treatment of the characters is handled without meanness or cynicism. To all involved, from the writer/director to the cast and production team, I can only say "well done indeed!"

Annlee Ellingson (2012-05-11 10:55)

Thematically and artistically, Multiple Sarcasms has multiple personalities.

Aaron Hillis (2012-05-10 23:36)

This hoary midlife-crisis tale is watchable solely for its reliable cast.

mj_egypt (2012-05-10 11:15)

good movie to kick back and watch

I thought this was a good movie all in all. The acting was good and sowas the story line. It was a tale of a man who was trying to findhimself and find happiness in his life, isn't this what we all aresearching for in the end? The main character Gabe wanted to be a writerso he gave up everything to do this. I think sometimes people are overcritical of movies and over analyze things...just sit back and enjoythe ride and try to find a moral to the story instead of finding allthe flaws. because this is what is wrong with our society as a whole,we always look for the flaws. So i would definitely recommend thismovie it was different from the mainstream blockbusters and had somedeep meaning to it.

napierslogs (2012-05-09 20:58)

Not worth the frustration and boredom

I was really looking forward to "Multiple Sarcasms". With a story abouta man, basically at a mid-life crisis, who is looking for happiness inwriting and in films, I thought I could really relate. But for a filmabout playwriting at its heart, it's rather poorly written. Many scenestelling us things that we already know. The first third of the film wasintroducing us to the main characters, over and over again. But I goteverything I needed to know about the characters in the first scene sothe rest just became a lesson in boredom.It was supposed to be about Gabriel discovering that his happiness isrooted in writing, but then out of nowhere the main story became aboutcrossing the line of infidelity. Not writing at all. Boredom, crossinginto confusion just becomes frustration. Even with the many underratedactors, "Multiple Sarcasms" is not worth the frustration and boredom.Follow my blog Napierslogs' Movie Expositions athttp://napierslogs.blogspot.com

Stephen Holden (2012-05-09 14:49)

Why devote a single moment of your time to listening to his character, Gabriel Richmond, bellyache ad nauseam about having everything and still being miserable?

napierslogs (2012-05-09 05:46)

Not worth the frustration and boredom

I was really looking forward to "Multiple Sarcasms". With a story abouta man, basically at a mid-life crisis, who is looking for happiness inwriting and in films, I thought I could really relate. But for a filmabout playwriting at its heart, it's rather poorly written. Many scenestelling us things that we already know. The first third of the film wasintroducing us to the main characters, over and over again. But I goteverything I needed to know about the characters in the first scene sothe rest just became a lesson in boredom.It was supposed to be about Gabriel discovering that his happiness isrooted in writing, but then out of nowhere the main story became aboutcrossing the line of infidelity. Not writing at all. Boredom, crossinginto confusion just becomes frustration. Even with the many underratedactors, "Multiple Sarcasms" is not worth the frustration and boredom.

Nick Schager (2012-05-02 19:52)

The meaning of Multiple Sarcasms's title is a mystery, but then, so are many things in Brooks Branch's film.

Avi Offer (2012-05-02 05:32)

An often uneven, inorganic drama centered around a dull, tediously narcissistic character who's as irritating as nails on a chalkboard.