Race You to the Bottom (2005)

To me, this movie is perfection.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This review will contain spoilers in general terms but if you do not want to know I give the 2 stars purely for the performance of Amber Benson who somehow manages to make her deeply unsympathetic character watchable.However, that aside the movie is truly depressing. In essence we have two thoroughly unlikable, hedonistic people who are so shallow and self destructive that they are having an affair which given how self-centred they are can't possibly go anywhere meanwhile hurting their boyfriends who for some reason like them. I could almost accept this if the characters learned something from the experience, but the ending seems to hint at the real possibility that they've learned nothing. So we have a very long, depressing 70+ minutes with nothing to show for it. Long travel, no distance.The acting, Miss Benson aside, is pretty bad. Cole Williams simply lacks any charisma as the leading man and none of the support cast come across with anything to raise above woeful in the performance.But the onus of this sad project's failure lies fairly and squarely on the head and shoulders of its writer/director. What is he trying to say about relationships and people in this film? Nothing positive at all, in fact I'd almost go as far as saying the director seems to have a real disdain for people and relationships. Worse yet the film certainly re-enforced a lot of the insecurities and distrust that i have about relationships so it doesn't even manage to entertain. it merely sits in what feels like a cesspool of loathing.The direction is competent to be fair but nothing above TV show, and low budget TV show at that.I'm a big fan of Miss Benson's, and certainly think she is good in this, but the film is thoroughly depressing, lacking either sympathetic characters or any real moral compass or purpose other than to depress people. Unless you feel like watching a film to slit your wrists to, I'd avoid this film like the proverbial plague.

This film is about the sexual relationships of a bisexual man and a heterosexual woman, who go on a trip together to research for a newspaper article.Judging from the film length, I guessed that the plot is probably not so well developed, and there is little to be conveyed. Unfortunately, this turns out to be true. I feel that there are not enough character development to make the characters connect with the viewers. There are not enough subplots to make the film interesting either. Many of the momentary flashbacks could have been expanded to full scenes, such as Nathan and Maggie walking around San Francisco having fun together. This would serve as better story development, and to increase the film's runtime. It is a pity that this film turns out not to be as captivating and interesting as it could have been.

I never believed for a minute that Cole Williams' character was a true bisexual and therein lies the flaw in RACE YOU TO THE BOTTOM. He's an arrogant, self-centered writer (whose talent is also something of a line of BS), who is acting like a spoiled baby and it is hard to muster up any sympathy for him or any of the other characters in this road-to-nowhere film. The DVD commentary tries to explain away their behavior by emphasizing that that the characters are in their 20's and this is their 'time' to be self-centered and let ego rule. Maybe if the film-maker took a solid stance on how HE feels about them, we'd care too. But he didn't and we don't so race to the credits and get it over with.

I found this movie to be quite good. The story was well written and an interesting. The story gives a fresh view to the complex relationships of young people, at a time when the gender roles are not as strictly defined as they used to be. The acting and dialogue were very good, especially the main characters feel very real and alive. The music and the beautiful scenery of northern California also added to the feeling of the movie. I did not like the rhythm of the story, it felt like a long introduction to the the high point that never came, I would have wanted to see how the main characters and their friends reacted to the big conflict in their lives and how they coped with the changes it brought. Also some of the flashbacks felt a bit out of place. Despite the problems with rhythm it is a strong debut for the director.