Someone is really enjoying his 15-minutes of fame and is making the most of things. Clark Gregg has been an actor since like forever but he usually only played parts in movies in which he was mostly standing in the background and only had like 3 lines. He played a similar type of character in some of the Marvel superhero movies, which made him really popular, which eventually even resulted in him receiving his own television series with "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.". To 'exploit' this success even further and make full use of his recently gained fame, he wrote, directed and starred in this movie, that otherwise no one most likely would even ever have heard off or have any interest in of ever seeing. Don't get me wrong, I like the guy but his popularity of course doesn't make him a great director or writer as well.
Why does this movie exists? It feels like an absolutely pointless one. Of course all movies by definition are pointless ones but at least most of them still can make you go 'I had a good time with' or 'I don't feel like I wasted my time on it'. Well, this movie unfortunately does feel like a waste of time to be honest. It's really nothing too bad to watch but again, it feels utterly pointless to watch and the movie has far too little to offer.
The story is obviously kept as 'small' and simplistic as possible, as these type of movies often tend to do, to help it to come across as a sweet, likable, realistic little movie. It's an approach that works out very well for some movies at times but in this case I do feel that the story could have used some more meat to it. Certain plot lines aren't ever really going anywhere (the whole romance part), while others are just lacking any good developments in them to ever turn them into truly interesting and engaging enough ones. The movie still tries hard to surprise but to be frank, I could see all of the developments coming from miles away and already knew what certain characters were truly all about, the moment they walked onto the screen, without spoiling too much for you. And it's always disappointing to see a movie like this taking things exactly into the same direction you expected it to do. It never offered any good surprises or twists it and everything progresses in a far too formulaic and predictable kind of way.Again, I really don't hate this movie and it remains a watchable enough one but there is absolutely nothing about this movie that makes it stand out from any other one and it's formulaic ingredients make this movie also an ultimately very forgettable one.
Thing that also somewhat bugs me about these type of movies made by popular actors is that they often feature a whole bunch of familiar faces in it. Now, of course nothing wrong with seeing some great and well known actors playing a role in a movie but I do have problems with it when they are given absolutely nothing to do. They play parts that easily could have been played by some totally unknown and insignificant actors and some of the well known actors who appear in this movie even only have nothing but a cameo really. Seriously, what's the point of having William H. Macy in your movie when you give him nothing to do? Things like that only distract from the movie and interrupts the flow of the things. Even the always great Sam Rockwell is sadly underused, since the movie primarily focuses on just its main character, played by Clark Gregg.
Really, it's doubtful that this movie will be the worst thing you'll ever see but I just can't think of any good reasons why you in the first place should even bother to watch it. It's not 'clever' or witty enough, not surprising, not very engaging...just mostly a very pointless and forgettable watch really.
6/10
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