All I Can See is You

Review Written by Michael J. Ruhland



















Michael's Movie Grade: C+

Review: This movie some big flaws, but it still ends up being a good movie thanks to great direction by Marc Foster and a very moving performance by Blake Lively.

Thus film really looks great. However this not only makes the movie pretty to look at but makes the story more effective. These visuals often allow you to see the world through the eyes and mind of our main character. When she sees or feels distorted, we can see that visually on the screen and when things are less distorted for her we see things in a rather normal way. With this the main character feels more real to us, and we believe the story more because of this. Also helping make this movie more believable is Blake Lively's performance. Critics seem to be split on this performance but I love it. You feel the emotion in her face. There is not a scene of this movie where she ever feels fake or unreal. Instead even when she doesn't say a word she conveys every emotion perfectly and pulls you into the movie. Why this film works is that with the direction, cinematography and performance all working together this main character feels undeniably real and this makes for some very emotionally effective moments.

However this film does have some huge problems. One of these is as real as our main character feels, her husband doesn't feel real. Though there are some interesting ideas with him, he is never believable. His dialogue often is the film's most forced and there is little knowing what he would be like or do if his wife wasn't in this movie. On top of this some of the side characters simply seem to be there to show us how the relationship between these two is having trouble. (slight spoilers though these events don't take place that far into the movie, so you won't have the ending ruined) How sexually satisfied the sister and her husband are is supposed to contrast with the awkward sex life of our two leads. However it becomes obvious that that is the only reason those two side characters exist. Likewise the peep show scene is supposed to symbolize their troubled sex life, but that scene is instead just awkward and hard to watch, while only telling us what we already know. (spoilers over) There is also another character who only exists for a similar reason, but I won't talk much about him so I don't spoil something that happens late in the movie. Again though while this problems are big, there is more than enough good here to make it worth watching.

-Michael J. Ruhland