Post Grad (2009)

As Good As It Gets

Absolutely Brilliant!

A different way of telling a story

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

avoided this film like the plague. But no, I thought it would at least be a nice fluff film for a lazy Sunday. And it was okay, for a while there. BUT THEN THAT DAMN GIRL QUITS THE JOB SHE ALWAYS WANTED IN ORDER TO MOVE ACROSS THE COUNTRY TO BE WITH A GUY! Seriously? And her father thinks that "it's a kick-ass idea". Uh, I don't think it means what you think it means.Now I'll know to trust my instincts and to avoid all future films written by Kelly Fremon (I am burning that name into my memory so I won't stumble into another one of hers, ever). I can't actually believe a woman wrote this spineless story with that unfeminist dud of an ending. Keep in mind that I read all of the Bridget Jones books and suffered through a fair amount of moderately unamusing rom coms – so I have a relatively high tolerance for exasperating women in fiction. However, "Post Grad" just made me go, "Hulk smash".The only stars I did give to this are for Jane Lynch, Carol Burnett and Michael Keaton. Unfortunately, they'll have to share one, because "Post Grad" is simply: Awful.

Whoever thought this movie was a comedy is a total dumb ass. It is a complete DRAMA! There is nothing funny in this movie. It's basically a story about what every person goes through after graduating from college. Trying to find a job that seems nearly impossible with this screwed up economy and wasting your time by thinking you like somebody but your better off by yourself so it will be less depression and more enjoyment in life. The family was definitely weird which is normal these days except for the part where he was happy about belt buckles. The people in this one was actually similar to how it is in college. There always is someone that's a bitch and enjoys getting on your nerves more than anything. As well as others who are completely awkward in everything you can think of.

I so wanted to like this film but I felt like I was watching two different movies, or I should say two different types of comedy. You have Alexis Bledel on one hand, who in my opinion, is better suited to a more sophisticated comedy (I mean, just watch any episode of Gilmore Girls and see how great she is) then you have Michael Keaton, Jane Lynch and Carol Burnett who are far more slapstick in their approach. Michael Keaton's acting and facial expressions tell me he still wishes he were doing Mr. Mom, not in itself a bad film, just wrong for this one. The only thing I liked was the fact that the script did not take the easy way out and she ended up with the right man. I watched this for Alexis, and will someone please write her a sophisticated screwball comedy so she can show what she can do?

This is a flighty, dumb, insubstantial film, and in ordinary circumstances I'd either never bother to review it or recommend it only to fans of Alexis Bleidel. But I think this is a unique period -- the last couple years -- historically, in terms of the economy and the tremendous hit that young people entering the job market have endured. Had this film even been MEDIOCRE, it might have really had resonance with this group (or their suffering, bill-paying parents) but it's just one insult to the intelligence after another.Written and conceived by Kelly Fremon, a first time scriptwriter who was working as a temp at Fox Studios, it is somewhat based on her own difficulty "trying to launch" after college. But "Post Grad' comes across as if it were written by a Martian, totally unaccustomed to how earthlings really live their lives and based entirely on what the Martian viewed in snippets of old TV sitcoms.The films starts out with a couple bright moments as Bleidel's character "Ryden Malby" talks to us from her facebook page about her dreams and aspirations. Ryden, who dresses all through the film in prissy matronly outfits better suited to a middle- aged woman -- and one circa 1985, down to her silk bow blouse -- goes to ONE interview...at what she claims is "the only publishing company in Los Angeles" At no time, does Ryden ever think of talk about another publishing company...a film company....a PR firm...going out of town for a job to San Francisco or hey! New York City (publishing capital of the WORLD). NO --it's this one firm or NOTHING.Then she goes to work for her dad at his luggage store in the mall, where bizarrely he forces her to wear a strange "monkey suit" (that fits like sprayed enamel on Bleidel's tiny figure) and use bizarrely aggressive sales techniques (for luggage?). She quits after about 30 minutes on the job. Later, Ryden gets a job with the across-the-street neighbor -- a ridiculously handsome South American photographer (yeah, right -- in the 'burbs) who (after her dad runs over his CAT) seduces her on a blow-up plastic sofa (seriously) until her parents burst into his house unannounced. He hires her as his (ahem) personal assistant, a job that last a few hours before HE quits, walks out and decides to move back to South America!Later in the film, Ryden gets offered her "dream" job anyhow and what does she do ? SHE QUITS IN ONE WEEK! And her parents not only approve, but encourage her to follow her (formerly) platonic male friend (who she has decided abruptly and for no real reason is the love of her life, having ignored him for at least the past decade) and so she leaves a wonderful job on the spur of the moment....to apparently go live with him at law school. In his dorm room.I wonder if writer Kelly Fremon ever even went to school or had any kind of realistic circumstances (like, say, having to work your way through school, or borrow tons of money to get a degree).If you are dumb enough to quit a career-making dream job after ONE WEEK, you deserve a lifetime asking "do you want fries with these?" I don't know any set of parents ON THE PLANET who would encourage you to quit after ONE WEEK. Weren't Ryden and Adam (Zach Gilford) away at different colleges just WEEKS EARLIER? Has nobody heard of VISITING? Waiting till one or the other graduates?I might add, the time frame is ridiculous: presumably Ryden graduates in mid-June or so and Adam is off to law school in late August. That mean the entire story unfolds in roughly two months. TWO LOUSY MONTHS and this girl has given up on a job!Did they ever even read an article about soapbox derbies? (Hint: you cannot put a COFFIN on skis, and compete against actual soapbox racers.) Can they do math? -- parents who marry in 1976 are unlikely to have their oldest child graduating in 2009! (It's THIRTY THREE YEARS later!)Overall, I wonder if this is even the script that Fremon wrote -- or if the producers and directors knew it was trash, so they thought they'd liven it up with a lot of physical humor (cats run over, crashed cars, soap box races, crazy grandma jokes). It doesn't work, though - - the REAL humor would be in the character's despair and increasing desperation to find work. As a result though, the plot meanders strangely of course, seemingly more interested in Michael Keatons' "Dad Malby" and Zach Gilford's "Adam", filling the screen with odd detours (Keaton's brush with jail time for selling stolen belt buckles, Gilford's strange dad -- a wasted J.K.Simmons in a single scene -- screwing a checkout clerk at his grocery store -- things that just make you think "say what?")Ditto for the grand dame of all physical comedy, the great Carol Burnett -- what is she doing in this dreck? it's as if her wandered in from another film entirely -- or the brilliant Jane Lynch, absolutely utterly criminally wasted here a bland generic mom character.In short, this is one of the worst written, worst produced, lamest and unfunniest films I have seen in years. AVOID AVOID AVOID -- not even at the $1 Red Box, not even as free streaming video. NO.