It begins well with Juno Temple playing an introverted creative who meets Simon Pegg, an extroverted producer. An interesting friendship begins and the audience is wondering if it will result in success, betrayal or failure. Nice.
She then quickly learns of his mental health problems and Pegg's character does a lightning-fast switcheroo into jumble of weak dialogue and fairly generic 'crazy talk'. This is not to say that people with mental health issues don't often share similar problems (hearing transmissions, grand conspiracy, etc.) but those problems seem to be indulged here for no particular reason. The rest of the movie languishes on his deterioration and we're not entirely sure why Juno's character is the one we're supposed to be following. It then dissolves into various critiques of health and public services, which Juno's character is often reduced to spectating.
The acting is fairly decent throughout, though Pegg feels miscast and struggles with some of the material. He's usually good at sincerity, but feels out of place here (and not in a thematic way).
Despite its agreeable message, it is a movie that lacks a strong story and treats its handful of characters far too gently.
She then quickly learns of his mental health problems and Pegg's character does a lightning-fast switcheroo into jumble of weak dialogue and fairly generic 'crazy talk'. This is not to say that people with mental health issues don't often share similar problems (hearing transmissions, grand conspiracy, etc.) but those problems seem to be indulged here for no particular reason. The rest of the movie languishes on his deterioration and we're not entirely sure why Juno's character is the one we're supposed to be following. It then dissolves into various critiques of health and public services, which Juno's character is often reduced to spectating.
The acting is fairly decent throughout, though Pegg feels miscast and struggles with some of the material. He's usually good at sincerity, but feels out of place here (and not in a thematic way).
Despite its agreeable message, it is a movie that lacks a strong story and treats its handful of characters far too gently.