Rx (Simple Lies) (2005)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Fresh and Exciting

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

***could contain unintentional but possibly or, sooner, probably inconsequential spoilers***.It is almost unbelievable to consider that the director of this movie would go on to make a movie as compelling as The Iceman, but I guess that Ariel Vroman deserves a lot of points for not having given up after Rx.Having spent 90 minutes of my life watching Rx, based on the great impression created by The Iceman, I'm led to wonder whether Vroman learned by his mistakes, or if it is possible that the investors hacked Rx into the boring unsatisfactory mess of a story that it ends up being. He simply must have had better unrealized intentions here.It's not the fault of the lead actors. While Eric Balfour isn't well known as a box office inspiration, he is a capable and likable actor who showed particular thespian skill during his run on Six Feet Under. Colin Hanks was born with not only the gene but also the will to be an exceptionally capable actor. His performance as Doug in Alone With Her is masterpiece creepiness, showing the actor's willingness to take the risk of sacrificing likable popularity in order to display his acting chops. Lauren German is, likewise, a competent skilled performer--who delivers the most humanly real performance of all in Rx, despite being starved of substantial lines.For anyone who feels the need, as I did, to check out Vroman's work before The Iceman, you can skip Rx. In fact, if the plot had focused on Melissa's (German) trip to Mexico, it might even seem like a better class of Lifetime movie; and that, right there, is the problem with Rx--it lacks focus, while pretending, through all of its 90 minutes, to eventually come to a conclusive point.I could go into more detail about Rx's failings--and they are many--but it has already robbed me of too much precious time. Skip it, unless you should find yourself somehow trapped, somewhere, with only one channel and the only thing on is Rx.

I saw this movie at the San Diego Film Festival, and am not sure it has been officially released in the US, despite this being a couple of years ago. This movie is not terrible, and starts off fairly strong, actually. It also unfolds in a pretty realistic manner, however, it does not really tell its viewer anything new (involving yourself with drugs or crime or both is especially dangerous when in a foreign country), and also is not just tragic, but depressing. The story centers around three friends: Andrew, his friend Jonny, and girlfriend Melissa. At the beginning of the story, Andrew is having money problems, and decides he can make a little extra money by buying drugs in Mexico and smuggling them back into the US (ala Maria Full of Grace, a far better movie which dealt with similar material). The three were planning to go into Mexico anyways for a party, and he feels that such a thing will not be a big deal, nor very difficult. Of course things go very wrong for the three friends and then go from bad to worse. **Spoiler Alert!!!! Please skip the rest of this paragraph if you don't want to ruin the plot** Jonny gets sick very suddenly just as the trio are nearing the border. Some of the drugs he swallowed burst inside him and he dies of an overdose. Andrew and Melissa are forced to return to the drug dealers (two bizarre, gay, German characters) who are extremely angry Andrew has returned after things went wrong and refuse him a refund because he already swallowed the drugs. At this point, Andrew makes another dangerous decision by trying to steal from the drug dealers and run away with Melissa. The two are chased by both the dealers and police, separated and cross paths a final time for a conclusion at the border.While I did end up personally caring about the characters a little, this movie simply cannot be watched without thinking that these characters have made very bad choices and gotten in way over their own heads. As mentioned before, the results are not simply plausible, but to a good degree predictable. Were the story more compelling, or simply told in a more interesting way we might care more what happens to these characters, but given the choices they've made, the viewer simply cannot help but just watch and think to themselves that whatever happens, these people deserve it. The movie simply is not very exciting, despite its story of danger and pursuit, and so depressing is the tone and message, that one has to wonder who this movie was made for. What audience can a movie like this really have? All things aside, the performances are all quite solid, Eric Balfour is convincing as Andrew, the story's protagonist who makes some very poor decisions and is forced to pay for them heavily. Colin Hanks is also good as Jonny, though he actually has very little screen time and exits the story quite early. Finally, Lauren German as Melissa provides the movie's heart, and is the only character who really does nothing bad. Andrew's only redemption comes as a result of her.

This is a lousy flick. The three main characters were especially irritating. I only continued watching in the hope that I would get some enjoyment out of watching them suffer once things started going wrong. Unfortunately,the level of suffering they endured did not match the poverty of their acting ability or the superficiality of the characters they played. They were not helped by a lousy script. The plot, although not highly original, did have some potential for suspense and interest, however this was never realised in this film. No one involved in this film deserves ever to work in the movie industry again.

Nothing is more tiresome than wasting ninety minutes viewing a predictably vacuous hipster road flick. One finds it annoying having to come up with ten lines of text to critique this silly piece of fluff. RX is a low-rent Maria Full of Grace. This unimaginative film seems as though it was computer-programmed to appeal to a demographic weaned on stylish music videos and suburban dreams of transgression. The movie has a predictable look, a predictable sound track, a predictable bunch of characters and a predictable plot-line. Utterly forgettable, this product has a half-life of six months and is destined for the dustbin of the spent diversions of the global youth culture.