Amanda (2009) Poster

(2009)

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Good, Except for the Ending that sucks
ichocolat8 July 2010
Is it normal for many to equate everything that films that do not have big budgets to be lesser of quality than the blockbusters? It is saddening because even with all the hypes, not all big budgets films are good. Take Iron Man for example; with the brouhaha and gimmicks, the film failed to achieve its expectations.

I personally liked this film. But if it is not for the silly ending, I'd have recommended it to my friends.

The underlying concept of loving unconditionally is portrayed here, which most of us take for granted. We love somebody because the person fits our requirements, but what if it were not the case? All in all, a good watch for me.
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1/10
a romcom for morons
karlhl23 January 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Amanda has bad dialog, poor scene writing & a plot that fails to satisfy. A dumb opening scene in which Joe is surprised for his 40th birthday by having his friends and family turn on the lights just as he turns on a porno and is about to start masturbating. This is supposed to draw humor from the awkwardness, but Joe talks about it shortly after with his parents, which is the last thing ANY person would do! This leads to a pretentious and insulting introduction of the main characters, in which Joe shows Amanda a secret door to a balcony, where her shushing him to hear nothing is interrupted by his niece giving him a handmade windchime, which he obviously doesn't want or care about. A schmaltzy dating montage follows a lame first date, in which she decides to leave after 10 seconds. He pathetically begs and pleads for her to give him a chance, to have the rest of the restaurant patrons applaud, and as he turns around to thank them, she leaves, but nobody bothers to tell him she is walking out. The characters are wooden and lack subtlety, especially Joe's parents, who act like two people who only just met, rather than who have been married for 40 years, and talk to their son like he's their neighbor. The dating montage includes scenes of him watching her from afar, and following her in a cab when she's jogging. A mysterious black sedan is supposed to lend the film an air of mystery, but serves more of a deus ex machina purpose by the end. A supposedly romantic gesture on her part is to give him a picture of her in lingerie for him to masturbate to, which we then see.

On the honeymoon, Amanda says she is a post-SRS MTF & Joe bolts. His confidant tells him she moved away & he falls apart over the rest of the movie. A speed dating scene with weirdos ends with Amanda appearing to him. He still hangs out outside her apartment. It turns out his friend was lying to Joe in order to date Amanda. Yet despite this, he never saw Amanda coming out of or going into her apartment? Also, Amanda was lying about being MTF in order to find true love to then gain an inheritance, because her mom left her dad (the man in the black sedan) for a woman when she was a tot. Even though Amanda meets Joe's parents early on, she never introduces hers.

Do yourself a favor, watch something else. With all the masturbation and stalking in this film, I have to wonder if the writer wasn't just some creep who rubs off and follows women around. Evidently his day job is making movies for the Bob and Tom show, so that he can make shorts and films like this. His leads are a couple of actors who typically get bit parts, and secondary roles are played by actors who felt like they were the director's friends. This film manages to offend the trans community, the straight community, and is just generally poorly written. The look of joy on Joe's face, upon finding out that Amanda was born a woman is so wrong that it isn't even funny. His exclaiming "Yes!" leaves you wondering if his proclamation of love before was genuine or not, and why he isn't exclaiming "what?!"

The film ends with them driving a fancy red sports car up to their mcmansion and talking about how they're going to live out the rest of their lives, and her doing something sassy so that it shows she still surprises him. I would call this corny, except that it's too badly written.
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2/10
Bad acting plus bad dialog = typical indie film
jcinsov20 July 2012
I pride myself on being open to new directors and film houses. This seemed interesting, so I gave it a shot. From the very first scene, one can feel that undefinable awkwardness of bad acting. The dialog from the first scene was unbelievable. Everyone spoke like they were high school kids. I really regret this movie. I think the worst sin this movie made was the message. I won't say what that message was but when you get the the end of this flick you will see exactly what I am talking about.

If the director ever reads these forums this is what I would like to say to him- you can't make EVERYONE be a stereotype or off the wall impossible character or it won't work. Not everyone has to be (or can be) stifler.
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1/10
B - A - D ....... from start to finish
cekadah23 March 2014
Warning: Spoilers
I actually thought the actress that played Amanda was a guy in some kinda cheap drag!

Then I discover it is actually a girl!!!

So there you have the most interesting element in this dumb movie - a girl playing a guy that became a girl. Didn't Julie Andrews do this decades ago?

You can spend better time looking up the answer to my question above than watching this movie - which - by the way - is totally devoid of any acting skills!

I'm actually sorry I watched it!
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6/10
The trailer makes it sound BOLD and Daring... not so much.. COP OUT!!!
mcgill_j6 July 2010
Warning: Spoilers
First off.. I gave this film a "6".. because.. it actually from the TRAILER you'd suspect.. takes the idea of the rom-com and marks some new.. and I was actually think.. this would be a FIRST..

Unlike say "The Crying Game" which the big twist is that she was a He.. was it seemed to be what if a straight guy found out the hot chick he was dating.. was also, once, a he. So.. there'd be a BIT more weight than the traditional fluff of the rom-com. And we get that.. for a little bit.. until the last 15 minutes of the movie just COMPLETELY cops out and turns the entire film that was into just so much more fluff.

Now.. I'm STRAIGHT.. so I don't care about the big twist.. but it just seemed like the twist for the sake of the twist, and to pad the running time a few minutes longer. What could have been something of a film more on the level akin to Kevin Smith's "Chasing Amy".. turns into a movie Sandra Bullock threw to the bottom of the pile (not that you could blame her really).

Now.. the performances were, sadly, very strictly amateur theater steakhouse.. what MIGHT have saved the movie from a dollar rental (or more likely a SHAMED 3 AM viewing on some cool hipster wanna be touting this as "independent" film)... It's just not. What NERVE and courage the film mustered up in the first bit is completely deflated by the end.

The writing is kind of weak.. and I can forgive that all.. if you have something to say.. in fact, I could have forgiven this film if it had STUCK to its guns.. but at the end of the day, it wasn't that movie.. it was just some fluffy rom-com masquerading as something important.. using issues that.. I think may be even more prevalent in society as medical technology develops.. this actually seemed a GOOD time to throw in stories about acceptance.. and love.. (but like I said.. the last bit of the movie just takes a giant SPIT all over it).

It's really unfortunate too.. Like I said.. I'd give the movie a rent in the dollar rental section, and recommend it.. but the point when they FINALLY reconcile? just TURN IT OFF.. imagine THAT as the ending.. and it would have been a fine enough movie. But.. keep watching and you will definitely understand my point of view on the film.
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10/10
Folks, this is a fun movie
pm-786-1891448 July 2010
I am a big, and I mean big, independent film fan. I travel to festivals JUST to check out all the stuff that ends up under the radar. I've seen a lot of movies and I saw this one at the Louisville International Film Festival. It easily ranks an 8 on my list.

Very professionally produced, although at least two of the eight main actors were not performing on all cylinders. That's bound to happen. Regardless, there is some very funny and original writing here. And I knew there was going to be a twist at the end, but I didn't figure on THIS twist.

I liked it. Go see rent/buy this movie. It's an easy addition to your DVD collection.
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Personally, I like happy endings
info-121387 July 2010
NEWS UPDATE: "Amanda" is now available on ALL THE ON DEMAND CABLE SYSTEMS in addition to NETFLIX and iTunes. Search "All Movies" and locate her in the mix. Thanks.

Hey anyone who is actually out there busting their butt to get their indie movie's funded, shot and distributed deserves, at the very least, a nice thumbs up and maybe a wink and a nod.

To all the other independent movie-makers out there, this one at least says "it can be done!" Local acting talent is often an issue, although most of the talent in "Amanda" should be applauded for their work. The quality of this indie film is really quite good and the cinematographer here has worked on several very good movies. Believe me, there are thousands of titles on the wall at your local video rental store that are total time wasters.

This one, I'm happy to say, is not one of those.
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10/10
Great Movie
sassndance22 July 2010
Ariana Dubynin is a real dish. Not only is she gorgeous but she is extremely talented,,see her resume. You can not tell she is Russian by her accent, her English is perfect. This is one of the best romance movies i have ever seen and the ending is really wonderful. I have watched this movie eight times and can not get enough of Ariana, though i have heard that there are thousands of lonely gorgeous women in the CIS countries. so i am not surprised she is gorgeous. Why have we not heard of her before? Where has she been hiding? She is going to be as famous as Julia Roberts and i hope to see her in another romance movie soon. Adrenalin Motion Pictures have a potential super star in Arana. I think the production is great.
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