Expiration Date (2006)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Simply A Masterpiece

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

A film with a core idea that should work but really just doesn't. This film has all the ambition of a quirky indie comedy and especially reminds me of garden state but really lacks the finesse. Its very much a film that suffers from poor direction, editing and some bizarre sound. The way the sound has been mixed on this film is really quite bizarre with the dialogue sounding almost dubbed in due to the lack of atmosphere sound and over use of soundtrack which with a guess is down to the use of radio Mic's over a boom leaving us with to clearer sound. But the biggest faults i have to pick are that the script feels under developed and forced while a large selection of the shots leave us feeling disconnected from the characters, its really a film that feels like it could have needed an extra 6 months development.

I saw this film at the 5th Annual Native American Film Festival in Keene, NH. Before seeing this extraordinarily well written, directed and produced feature, I saw two shorts that really opened my eyes to the difficult circumstances for many of our Native American citizens today.Prior to the film presentations, I had an opportunity to visit with some local craftsmen at the festival who demonstrated how to pound ash wood to make strips for baskets. There was also a handmade canoe on display that was truly a work of art. I try to make it to at least one pow-wow a year. As always, everyone at the festival was extremely gracious and their humor should be considered a national asset.I've read some of the other comments here and find it difficult to accept that anyone didn't absolutely love this movie. The story within a story concept was done to perfection. If you've never been to the Northwest US, you'll want to go after seeing this film. Every character is so valuably portrayed that I could completely step out of my life and join the story in my mind.I went to the film festival alone because I didn't have anyone to go with me. By the time I left, I didn't feel alone any more. Please let me know how I can get copies of the DVD for myself and to give as gifts. I've recommended this movie to my family, friends and everybody who serves me a cappuccino!

So there's this young man, see, and he knows when he's going to die due to an old family curse, and he spends the last two weeks of his life preparing for his grisly demise.Sounds gloomy, doesn't it? And a bit corny.Happily, Expiration Date avoids both of these two pitfalls adroitly, and what could have been an 'artsy' bit of gallows humor is instead a very surprisingly warm romantic bildungsroman. It is often cheeky, sometimes hilarious, and never self-indulgent.After a brief framing narrative (think of the boy-and-grandpa bits in The Princess Bride) we are introduced to our hero, who believes that, like his father and grandfather before him, he is doomed to be crushed by a milk truck on his next birthday, just a few days hence. The preparations he makes for his imminent demise certainly occasion a few obvious bits of black humor (measuring the view from his burial plot by stretching himself out on the grass) but that takes up a lot less of our character's attention than the young woman who has entered his life and who keeps encouraging him, despite himself, to get involved with living instead of with dying. Her performance, sometimes a bit shrill, is the only sour note I felt in this movie, but I was able to overlook it because the lead character is so charming and she is clearly trying to serve as a foil for that.The plotting is neatly reflexive, with lots of little detailed sub-plots which are brought around later in the movie and wrap the whole bundle up so that it's more allegory than realism. But that turns out to be okay (minus, again like the Princess Bride, the unnecessary framing story), and the leads generally keep things light enough that we excuse the poetic bits. I certainly hope this one finds a distributor. It deserves it.

A great film. Truly enjoyed the story and acting. Very funny film. Catch this film if you can and you won't be disappointed.Just won Best Feature and Audience Award at the Omaha Film Festival. The presence of Rick Stevenson at the festival answering questions made the event and film really enjoyable.Hopefully a wider audience is able to get to see this movie soon. Look forward to whatever is next on Rick's list.The Omaha Film Festival was in its first year and was run like a top notch festival with quality films, documentaries and shorts. This festival should be a huge success for years to come.