Rid of Me (2011)

Wonderful character development!

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Honestly its entertaining enough with a few big laughs but if you can handle humor based on making you the viewer undeniably uncomfortable you'll love this film. So prepare to be ultimately uncomfortable , and absolutely violated, because no other film can do this. This isn't exactly something for just about anybody because some people either just wont get it or wont be able to appreciate it. I will say this honestly be somewhat a little rough to watch for some people and or will it just flat out boring but, if you can put all of those aside you may be in for one hell of a treat. So I can simple say prepare for the best and prepare for the worst because this is going to be mind blowing in either a positive or negative fashion

I have had some bad luck lately with quirky indie movies, so I was only half-heartedly ready to watch this. But, one lonely December afternoon, I was pleasantly surprised to find this little confection and discover that, if you worked with it, it could be delightful and rewarding. At times a morality play, other times a human nature study, it eventually becomes a later-life voyage to self-discovery that delivered the emotional payoff, but not without taking a few odd twists and turns along the way. Much has been said about the major female character, Meris, and her anxiety and depressed states being unnerving and annoying. I have a sister-in-law who is very similar to Meris, and I have to sometimes back pedal in our interactions to bring things down to her contemplative, sheepish level of expression, but I always find the things she says and does worthwhile, so maybe that's why I felt like I could relate to Meris.Stylistically, and this is what I had to work with the most, the directorial style-at times dizzyingly cartoonish, somber POV, and the subjective static shots added as visual punctuation-was hard to deal with sometimes, as it pulled the action out of the conventional narrative. But if you can stand Gus Van Sant or god forbid Terence Malick, you'll have no problem with this movie and its pacing.The characters were the true star of this film. Besides Meris, there's her new husband and his socially constipated friends who are obviously too ingrained in their own culture to be a part of the couple's life in a good way. The action picks up as Meris works at the candy store, and really takes off when the lively and luscious Trudy shows up with her rampant sexuality and supermodel/tomboy looks. Be ready for the world's worst sex scene with a hilariously understated real-life '90's rock star, and the appearance of a post-punk stoner dude whose claim to fame and popularity is his ability to "vomit on cue."

I can be a bit squeamish about this or that, so the first 10 minutes or so of this film made me wonder what I was getting into, but I was soon deeply involved in poor Maris' sheltered life. It is a journey and I loved watching every darkly funny moment of it. Yes, the film is low- budget but the writing - the three acts, the dramatic arc - is all there. There is actually falling action and a full resolution after the horrifying climax. I was giggling at Maris, sad for Maris, laughing with Maris, cheering for Maris, fearing for Maris...and I won't spoil the ending, which I loved. I also loved her sugar-addicted friend. Please take this film to be very much like the very early days of independent film, where locals could be found in the background and local artists made cameos. If you liked "Scumrock" or other films like that, then you'll like this film. Honestly, I'm troubled by the poor reviews of this film because I think it handles the very important subject of how we treat people who don't fall in what we consider the mainstream - from women, to artists, to people of color. Perhaps it takes on some parts of this subject on more than others, but it's only one movie. I also really liked some of the humor with ominous sound, when cutting to shots that showed the small town/pre-fab housing tableaux, for example. Lots of fun moments in this film. Again, I do not understand why people are giving this film a bad review. As someone who is a life-long film watcher (films from all over the world, both big and small budget) and as someone with many friends who work in film, I see this film as nothing but a success. Perhaps the people reviewing the work have some other motives in mind.

First of all, let me be clear, we absolutely love indie films and saw this one at a little festival in Michigan about a week ago where we saw some wonderful films. This film wasn't one of them. Our biggest complaint is that this story is just all over the place and the director didn't seem to have a clear handle on the type of film he wanted us to see; a comedy, drama, thriller, who knows. His indecision lead to weak and uneven performances throughout, with a few disgusting elements thrown (and I do mean thrown) in for good measure and only to attract weirdo attention it seems. The tickets were given to us to fill the theater; otherwise we would have asked for our money back after the first ten minutes even though the film actually won an award as did almost all the films at the festival. If the producers have become delusional about the quality of their movie, it isn't entirely their fault because they have been spurred on by a few underground movie reviewers that I think see movie making and promotion as some kind of weirdo game that can be won with enough pranks and buzz. We won't give up on indie films, but this one doesn't measure up to the hype.