Failure (2013)

You won't be disappointed!

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

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

Blistering performances.

"Failure" is a pretty short live action movie from the United States and this one came out in 2013, so it has its 5th anniversary next year and maybe, depending on when you read this review, it may be beyond that already. This is one of the rare efforts as writer and director by actor Michael Cera (Arrested Development) and he also plays the male character. The female is played by actress Aubrey Plaza (Parks & Rec). This is basically the story of a woman coming to a man's apartment despite both of them not knowing each other. I think the only real appeal in here is maybe a bit of a sexual reference about what may or may not happen if he wasn't so distant towards her. Sure you can say it's a metaphor for shutting people out of your lives or about being more open-minded in general or about other deep and meaningful aspects (maybe even a groupie story), but I am not sure if they convince me. Lets not forget that there is a complete stranger in his place, so making it 100% look in a way where he should have been kind instead of acting the way he acted is pretty foolish in my opinion, even if admittedly one must be a fool perhaps to send a stunner like Plaza away. Oh well.. now I am contradicting myself a bit. On a more positive note, the acting by both was decent and as I am not a great Cera fan at all, this was a delightful surprise. But the writing/plot just wasn't good enough for me to recommend the watch here. I give "Failure" a thumbs-down. Watch something else instead.

Michael Cera and Aubrey plaza are both prime examples of young talent. They're beautiful actors with the unique talent of captivating audiences with their awkward personalities. "Failure" is no exception. In a mere 4 minutes the Man and Woman played by Michael Cera and Aubrey Plaza manage to display a wild level of confusion and awkwardness that can't really be described. I felt like I was being generous giving this short film a 7/10. In reality, the story is bleak and there's not much to hold onto. I felt like I was watching a rough draft of a pitch for a scene out of a cheesy love flick. Don't get me wrong, Cera is up there in my top favorite actors and Plaza is working her way up there as well as I'm falling in love with her talent and abilities as a young actress. Perhaps I'm missing a deeper meaning to this short, or maybe it's as simple as it appears and I'm over-analyzing it. Whatever the case may be, I highly recommend this short film to anyone partial to Michael Cera or Aubrey Plaza's work. And for those unfamiliar with them, well, this is a great example of how genuine their awkwardness appears both on screen and off.