Are You Here (2014)

Powerful

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Steve Dallas (Owen Wilson) is a shallow weather man for an Annapolis, Md. station. He is the best friend of Ben Baker (Zach Galifianakis) a scruffy bipolar paranoid pot smoker, i.e. Zach Galifianakis type cast. He is also a "yellow belt" and is writing a book in a spiral notebook. When Ben's father passes away, Steve returns with him to Lancaster, Pa. where we meet Ben's unlikeable sister Terri (Amy Poehler), and his young "back to nature" step-mom Angela (Laura Ramsey).The story goes off in different directions. There is a sibling estate fight. We have shallow Steve falling for the step-mom who sees through him. Then there is Ben's mental health and desire to create a utopian society starting with his farm.The film had some good scenes as one might expect in a Zach Galifianakis film. Owen Wilson, or at least his character put a dampener on the whole film whose theme was...friendship? The ending really didn't tie things together and Steve was such a plastic character, you never wish for any success for him.Okay as a Red Box rental- Magnolia film substitute.Parental Guide: F-bomb. Nudity (Melanie Ratcliff, Alana De La Garza-TV actress, Laura Ramsey-brief nudity)

I do not understand that all movies by Zach Galifianakis or Owen Wilson (and Amy Poehler) automatically get the stamp "comedy". This is not a comedy, this is a very good movie. About friendship, about the hardships in life, about running away from your feelings and about trying to solve someone else's problems so that you do not have to deal with your own. Pair this with beautiful shots of green countryside and an actual dramatic role of Amy Poehler, great acting and a sturdy script, and you have a good movie. I love that taking drugs or drinking alcohol is not glorified, but shown for what it is to most people: a way to escape life, pain, feelings, the hard reality.Favorite lines: "See, nobody believes in friendship. People talk about it; you see it on TV, people drop by, you go to the doctor together, no one eats alone... But most people are alone. That's the thing about friendship: it's a lot rarer than love, because there's is nothing in it for anybody." Though the whole idea of the movie actually counters this quote, it shows brilliantly how people can deceive themselves.

Movie felt all over the place. At times it had crude humor then what I assumed was suppose to be heart felt moments which just seemed as bad acting. Add a lot of cheesy clichés and that's about it. Under my interpretation, the movie is to provoke one to think, is one way of life better than the other. It tries to be deep but nah. I would assume a 14 year old boy wrote this movie 😂

Thing is, this is not comedy, definitely not a classic romance story. The message it delivers is a hint of a more deep line. The false reality of things we are teach to want... Sure the story has a couple problems whit internal integrity and coherence, but the characters feel real !! real people... not some cartoon sister craving for the gold or a "hippie" against the system. Its truly remarkable the work the actors did to (at least in my case)make me forget it was a Hollywood movie. And i believe that the same thing i found so amazing is why is underrated. Its really not commercial. Most of todays indie films are gross commercials productions (all comedies sure are), the only thing that changes is the public, a more refined public or a less one. Doesn't matter... Profit does. "Are you here" doesn't try to be more that what it is.. and that is refreshingP.S The physical change of Galifianakis is comparable to that of Christian Bale in "the machinist"