Counting Backwards (2007)

For some, the lives we have are not always the lives we wanted. For Joe, a small time guy from the small time town of Sandwich, Illinois, his has not even come close - until now. Faced with... See full summary »

Director:

Aprill Winney

Writer:

Ryan Tavlin

Stars:

Benjamin Montague, Elaine Robinson, Cliff Chamberlain

Cast

Credited cast:
Benjamin Montague	...	Joe (as Ben Montague)
Elaine Robinson	...	Claire
Cliff Chamberlain	...	Frank
Morgan McCabe	...	Sarah
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Scott Ackerlund	...	Way Too Drunk Kid
Kareem Bandealy	...	Doctor #2
Brion Bliss	...	Man on Crutches
Sean Bolger	...	Frank's Client
Katie deBuys	...	Young Girl
Joe Dempsey	...	Cop
Jack Gallagher	...	Burt
Sayjal Joshi	...	Waitress
Heidi Koling	...	Making-Out Co-Worker A
Alexandra Mann	...	Nurse
R.J. Marquez	...	Tetris Co-Worker

Storyline

For some, the lives we have are not always the lives we wanted. For Joe, a small time guy from the small time town of Sandwich, Illinois, his has not even come close - until now. Faced with death and having recently met the girl of his dreams, Claire, Joe has to find a way to live the life of passion he'd always wanted, and he has to do it fast. Journey with Joe towards the great beyond, not half as imaginative as the path he's finally forged here on Earth. Ride with him as he's forced to figure out the meaning of life that he won't have time to live. With the help of his best friend, Frank, and his brilliant, if not terrified mother, Sarah, Joe will finally learn to live, love, and explore beyond his wildest dreams. And we'll get to watch one man's journey unfold, from the first day of the rest of his life on.

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Plot Keywords:

love | date | leukemia | dying from cancer | writing a novel | 

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Taglines:

The things worth fighting for still have to be fought for.

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Genres:

Romance

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 January 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Halfway to Sandwich

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Montague Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Valiant efforts but the viewer isn't rewarded with much of anything

For a film about the journey of its main character, it didn't do a good job of introducing us to Joe. Taking the usually-good approach that less says more, I may appreciate that, but it doesn't work here. He quit his job, but I don't know why. His doctor gave him bad news, but what exactly I don't know.

It's a film where they take the light approach to dying. You know, turn death into a romantic comedy. Kind of sounds intriguing, but it's not very romantic and it's not very funny. There's a scene which is supposed to be hilarious where Joe is talking on a cell phone while the cop is writing him a ticket for talking on his cell phone while driving. It's not a big enough film for that to work.

Benjamin Montague, who plays Joe, has this great natural ability to be the awkward, but lovable, underdog. Unfortunately, he has no chemistry with his romantic co-star and I don't really care if Joe discovers that his life is worth fighting for or not. Ironically, the novel that Joe is writing, mostly in his head, sounds like it's very well written, but the great turns-of-phrase didn't translate into the film.

"Counting Backwards" tried a lot of things that I appreciate in films with their minimal scenes and turning dark subject matter into comedy and romance, but the results just aren't there.