When a Man Falls (2007)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Please don't spend money on this.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

This film is a dramatic look at the lives and relationships (or lack of relationships) of the four main characters. It is a thought provoking look into what can happen when we allow ourselves to dwell within our personal misery to the point that we can no longer connect to those around us. The acting, writing, cinematography and direction are excellent, and the film is riddled with beautifully captured moments of life to which so many people can relate. If you are looking for a shallow sexy thriller, see Basic Instinct or Sliver. But if you are someone who appreciates the simplistic intricacies of what makes up the soul of a person...this movie is an excellent choice for you. It is a mature film that doesn't lay the emphasis on effects and the usual circus but on the subtleties and realities of people standing in the middle of their lives.

***SPOILERS*** Slow moving and at times confusing melodrama involving a number of people with problems that never seem to end. Mosty because the persons who have them don't or can't seem to face them.There's at first Bill, Dylan Baker, a janitor at a downtown high rise office building. Bill is so scared of everything that for some eight years on the job he never tried to get to know any of the people he works with. It was only by sheer accident that Garry Fields, Timothy Hotton, who works in the building as what looks like a housing or construction contractor finally sees Bill and recognizes him as someone he went to high-school with. Being the wimp that he was in high school that he is now Garry and his friends used to make life miserable for Bill back then and now feels very guilty for doing that.It's one of his high school buddies Travis Gilmore, Pruitt Taylor Vince, whom he hasn't talked to in some four years that Garry gets in touch with to have a couple of drinks together with in the local bar and talk over good-or bad-times with. Travis as it turns out has been going through a personal hell after he hit and killed a young woman who ran a red light in front of him and has now become a mental case when it comes to being behind the wheel on a car! In fact Travis spends all his free time from work, as the manager of local 7-11, in bars drinking, until he could barley stand up, his troubles away.As for Bill he's created a fantasy world for himself in him thinking that he's the knight in shinning amour for every damsel in distress in the neighborhood focusing on his next door neighbor Sadie, Stacie Bono, as the distressed damsel he's to rescue! It's Sadie who seems to be constantly being worked over by her abusive husband-David Paules-but in Bills unbalanced state of mind your not quite sure if what's happening to Sadie is real or just being imagined and conjured up by him! We then come to what has to be the most whacked out person of the entire lot Garry's not all there in the head wife Karen, Sharon Stone. Karen who feels that her husband Garry is taking her for granted and spending more time or money on her wants out of her marriage and go on with far more important things in her life, when not working as a receptionist at brokerage house in town, like being a full-time kleptomaniac or shop lifter. This later in the movie has Karen finally being caught by a store detective at a swanky clothing store where she tried to sneak out with about a half dozen blouses stuffed under her dress! Things really start to fall apart when Garry and Karen's son Will, David Williams, shows up for a visit from his collage break and soon realizes what a terrible mess of a life his parents have gotten themselves into. This leads Karen to go completely off her nut where Garry tries to find peace and tranquility by finally having her put away for her own good before she ends up either hurting herself or anyone else.***SPOILERS*** In the end Garry does in fact finds that elusive peace that he's been looking for during the entire movie in off all places a local hardware store when all his troubles abruptly and unexpectedly ended in a flash. In like what happened in the Bible to Lot's wife when she, in her not listening to her husband, was in an instant converted from being a living breathing flesh and blood human being into a pillar of lifeless salt!

A decent film, but be in the mood for some introspection. Sharon Stone is great because, well, she's Sharon Stone. You always get the feeling she's just about ready to snap a full on crazy - but that kinda IS what is interesting about Sharon Stone. Sort of a female Jack Nicholson, but hotter in heels and a skirt.The movie gives a snapshot of how we can all get lost in drudgery and mundane life. So don't view when you're really depressed. The film does a nice job with symbolism and there's an incident that unites the characters and pulls the story together. Good film to watch on a chilly night with some cocoa and buddy so you can have the discussion about how you feel SO much better about YOUR life and would NEVER slide into one of the character's way of life.I'd give it a B-

The problem with making a movie about life feeling tedious is that if it is a good film it will feel tedious and if it is a bad film it will feel tedious...Although artistic merit is quite evident in this film, its unfortunate choice of subject matter left me as numb as the characters and like the characters, the only relief came in the ending of the film and also like the characters, by that point I did not care what form the ending took, as long as it was over. That may have been the point, but that is not why I watch movies. I wanted to like the film, the acting was great, but there just wasn't one single redeeming moment or any relief at all from the constant droning monotony of these character's horrible, boring, pointless lives. Again, that may have been the point, but people watch movies to get away from that, not submerse themselves, no, ever so slowly drown themselves in the thick viscosity of utter boredom and meaninglessness. A nap would have been better (another point literally and ironically made in the film).