Jeff Vice

20 May 2012

Multiple Sarcasms is a terrible title for a movie. And it's even worse for a movie that's got some other serious problems.

Stephen Holden

20 May 2012

Why devote a single moment of your time to listening to his character, Gabriel Richmond, bellyache ad nauseam about having everything and still being miserable?

Betsy Sharkey

12 May 2012

Multiple Sarcasms is Woody Allen lite -- there's a lot of introspective fumbling around and intellectual foreplay. But in the end, instead of a satisfying climax, it feels like someone is faking it.

12 May 2012

No sarcasm for Timothy Hutton...only praises!

This review is from: Multiple Sarcasms (DVD) How can you not love Timothy Hutton! Great job by all the cast members and especially loved the scenes with actress Paris Rose Yates as Elizabeth's best friend!

mj_egypt

07 May 2012

good movie to kick back and watch

I thought this was a good movie all in all. The acting was good and sowas the story line. It was a tale of a man who was trying to findhimself and find happiness in his life, isn't this what we all aresearching for in the end? The main character Gabe wanted to be a writerso he gave up everything to do this. I think sometimes people are overcritical of movies and over analyze things...just sit back and enjoythe ride and try to find a moral to the story instead of finding allthe flaws. because this is what is wrong with our society as a whole,we always look for the flaws. So i would definitely recommend thismovie it was different from the mainstream blockbusters and had somedeep meaning to it.

Nick Schager

07 May 2012

The meaning of Multiple Sarcasms's title is a mystery, but then, so are many things in Brooks Branch's film.

Noel Murray

05 May 2012

From the jokes about Hutton overreacting to his daughter's menstruation to the comic ruminations about the relative attractiveness of genitalia, Multiple Sarcasms often plays like a bad stand-up routine dramatized by serious actors.

Greta Debniak

05 May 2012

A Common American Ailment

Another reviewer here characterized the whole premise of the movie as"preposterous". Obviously, that person has not known many people ofwealth and privilege. I have personally known many people of great"success" and wealth who were not very happy. They may have fulfilledthe "American Dream" of job, family, etc... but they did NOT feelcontentment, fulfillment or joy. One recently committed suicide... avery well-off and talented guy.So, it's not "preposterous" at all. It's quite common and veryunderstandable since our values here are based almost completely onmoney -- which is only a tool and you can't purchase happiness, onlydistraction.

28 April 2012

Its like Brooks Branch was reading my diary

I can't remember where I saw a reference to this film but I owe whomever tweeted about it, mentioned it on FB, or what have you a debt of gratitude. It spoke to me completely in the sense that all three main characters resonated with my own experiences. I guess the reviewer who hated it so profoundly hasn't experienced the combination of bad timing, ambivalence, and cold feet that seems to dictate the course of so many relationships, nor pondered whether the consequences of our actions or inactions in this context are somehow fated by our deep character flaws or rather within our control. For me a huge portion of the film rang very true, and the parts that didn't still worked as hyperbole to add emphasis and humor. I also thoroughly appreciated the original and refreshing art direction and the soundtrack. And while not a feel-good film, the bittersweet treatment of the characters is handled without meanness or cynicism. To all involved, from the writer/director to the cast and production team, I can only say "well done indeed!"

Ronnie Scheib

28 April 2012

Timothy Hutton's fine, loose-limbed perf as a man adrift lifts Multiple Sarcasms, frosh scribe-helmer Brooks Branch's male menopause apologia, out of cliche-ridden territory -- at least temporarily.

Lou Lumenick

27 April 2012

First-time filmmaker Brooks Branch underutilizes an estimable cast...

Bill Goodykoontz

26 April 2012

An hour-and-a-half mopefest so complete that by the end of it, you want to give Hutton's character a smack in the face and tell him to stop whining, already.

Avi Offer

22 April 2012

An often uneven, inorganic drama centered around a dull, tediously narcissistic character who's as irritating as nails on a chalkboard.

Suzanne Licht

21 April 2012

A Brave Film About the Creative Process

Multiple Sarcasms Timothy Hutton gives a great performance of a man whois tired of his work and married life, and is driven to work out who heis by writing a play. It is a process that is riddled with angst, hiscreative self attempting to emerge in spite of the inevitableobstacles, in the form of his wife, who he fears "doesn't get him," tohis guilt about striking out for himself in an authentic way aspossibly harming his gifted and appealing daughter, his job as anarchitect, which ceases to satisfy him creatively. His unkempt, "justgotten out of bed" look, complete with five o'clock shadow, hair with awill of its own and rumpled clothes give a physical presence to hisdiscontent and yearning for something more. At times, there aresurrealistic scenes, reminiscent of "The Singing Detective," (which areinspired, and for me some of the best moments of the film) where here-writes interactions that had painful ramifications for him, e.g. hisargument with his wife while they were visiting her family forChristmas, and his well-intentioned but maladroit attempt to come tohis daughter's aid during a crisis at school. The other actors givenatural and resonant performances, including Dana Delany with her cool,porcelain sadness as his wife, and Mira Sorvino, the wise, funny andvulnerable best friend (an iconic representation of every man's"anima"), India Ennenga as the precocious and lovable daughter, andMario Van Peebles, playing against his usual type, as his gay friend(he gives a monologue that is so effective that it would be a goodaudition piece). Stockard Channing was perfectly cast as the agent,industry and worldly-wise, funny and charming. It is an ode toManhattan as well as a right-brained, intuitive look into a man'sstruggle to become his authentic self through self-expression. At timeshe appears childlike, selfish, depressed, even crazed, and yet he isdoing what he has to do to make life bearable. This brave gem of a filmpresents a classic view of the struggle of a creative person, highs,lows, absurdity and revelations. The images captured by his daughterand superimposed with artfully free cursive reminded me of some of thework of Corita Kent, projected into a new medium, for a new century.The music was well-chosen, beautifully performed, fit the narrative andemphasized the emotion and themes.

haggar

15 April 2012

Poor man, hes bored.

My wife and I just couldn't muster the energy and will to watch a movieabout a man who has everything (wife, daughter and job), and is in arather enviable position overall. And his problem is... well, wecouldn't figure out. He's bored? Doesn't "like his life"? So, let'smake a movie about it, shall we?The premise to this movie is so preposterous, that his audience may beleft completely unsympathetic to the main character, or even lesssympathetic to the whole enterprise that made the movie possible.The saving grace of this movie is the good directing - there's a pinchof comedy to give a genre direction to the movie, but apart that, thecharacters seem rather genuine. Sadly, the whole plot is stillborn andworthless.

Frank Swietek

15 April 2012

Might serve a useful therapeutic function for its writer-director, but for the rest of us the exercise in self-examination will have a much less beneficial effect, unless you suffer from insomnia.

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

10 April 2012

A tedious and unappealing portrait of the obsession of a middle-age architect to write a play.

Tom Keogh

09 April 2012

Multiple Sarcasms has a way of creatively meandering into unexpected pockets of comedy and poignancy, heading toward some kind of eventual grace, a little like real life.

napierslogs

07 April 2012

Not worth the frustration and boredom

I was really looking forward to "Multiple Sarcasms". With a story abouta man, basically at a mid-life crisis, who is looking for happiness inwriting and in films, I thought I could really relate. But for a filmabout playwriting at its heart, it's rather poorly written. Many scenestelling us things that we already know. The first third of the film wasintroducing us to the main characters, over and over again. But I goteverything I needed to know about the characters in the first scene sothe rest just became a lesson in boredom.It was supposed to be about Gabriel discovering that his happiness isrooted in writing, but then out of nowhere the main story became aboutcrossing the line of infidelity. Not writing at all. Boredom, crossinginto confusion just becomes frustration. Even with the many underratedactors, "Multiple Sarcasms" is not worth the frustration and boredom.Follow my blog Napierslogs' Movie Expositions athttp://napierslogs.blogspot.com

matevz-vidmar1989

07 April 2012

Maybe it is love that makes us strange.

I just watched this movie and i must admit it wasn't brilliant butbetter then a lot of other movies.The plot starts with a family seemingly happy but as you have alreadyguessed nothing is as it seems. The guy is a thinker while the wife isnot so much. Then blah blah blah and the guy writes a sarcastic play,leaves his wife, and finally gets together with his true soul mate.Now a response to the previous review: A guy criticized that the plotmakes us completely unsympathetic to the main character due to hisungratefulness to what he has(the happy family stuff). I agree that youshouldn't not leave a marriage in ruin like that but in order toachieve that you need to be on the same level of understanding withyour partner. That doesn't mean that you always agree but it means heat least gets your "multiple sarcasm". Im not talking aboutintelligence here well maybe I am so what some people get it some don'tthat is just how it is.Anyway not a bad movie but i think it dint reach the right audience.