Seeing Other People

Rating:
Summary: A charming little movie with an cute couple &
Review: an excellent supporting cast.
Of course, the idea of an engaged couple having cheap, meaningless sex with strangers before their wedding is the baddest of bad ideas.
However, to watch it as a movie is a good idea & this movie is funny as well as being well made. Two attractive, young adults in a committed relationship, looking for sex after being out of the dating pool for five years are red meat.
We kind of know what will happen: a needy one night stand, impotence, or even developing a real relationship. So have a good laugh, enjoy it with your S.O. & spark a little conversation.


Rating:
Summary: Amusing Little Sex Comedy.
Review: Ed (Jay Mohr) and Alice (Julianne Nicholson) have been a happy couple for 5 years, and now they plan to get married. But Alice feels uneasy with her limited sexual experience and sees her last chance at an adventurous lifestyle disappearing. So Alice proposes that she and Nick sleep with other people until their wedding date. Nick is reluctant, but Alice's first steps at wayward romance encourage him. Nick and Alice's experiment with infidelity yields predictable, but entertaining, results.

"Seeing Other People" belongs to the all-too-rare genre of sex comedy. It's also a romantic comedy, but that isn't the film's strength. Husband/wife team of writer/director Wally Wolodarsky and writer/producer Maya Forbes made the film on a very limited budget, which shows in the cinematography. The script is conversational and lends the narrative an authentic feel. The cast is large and talented: In addition to Jay Mohr and Julianne Nicholson in the leading roles, Andy Richter and Josh Charles play Ed's friends. Lauren Graham is terrific as Alice's domineering sister Claire. And Bryan Cranston makes Claire's over-the-top husband Peter believable. The conversations these people have are laugh-out-loud funny. The sex is comical and spare. There is a lot of talk about sex, but very little sex on screen. "Seeing Other People" is a comedic look at the relationships of Southern Californian young professionals. 3 1/2 stars.

The DVD: Bonus features include "Behind the Scenes of Seeing Other People", an audio commentary by Wally Wolodarsky and Maya Forbes, deleted scenes, and a theatrical trailer. "Behind the Scenes of Seeing Other People" is a 5-minute documentary featuring interviews with the writer/director team of Wolodarsky and Forbes and with some of the film's cast. The audio commentary is interesting. Writer/director Wally Wolodarsky and writer/producer Maya Forbes talk about creating the characters, the challenges of making the film on a low budget, including using friends' homes and offices for sets, and their own experiences that inspired the film.

Rating:
Summary: Very endearing movie
Review: I saw "Seeing Other People" at the HBO Comedy Fest and really fell in love with it. It's a very endearing movie with lovable characters. However, I would not recommend seeing this on a first date, or with a jealous spouse!

Rating:
Summary: great little comedy
Review: I was happy to see a 'romantic comedy' that didn't line up with every other formula picture in the genre. Really fun stuff and some solid acting.

Rating:
Summary: The best movie!
Review: Saw this movie four times, and I could see it another four.
Everyone I saw it with loved it. Absolutely everyone.
And it was appreciated by some pretty talented artists and actors too...
Keaton Simons, Eric Roberts. We all loved it.
Impeccable script, gorgeous performances by everyone!
This is one of the funniest, most authentic, totally fun movies we've ever seen.

Rating:
Summary: A fun romp about the silly things people do . . .
Review: This movie features Ed and Alice, but includes a great ensemble cast. Ed and Alice have been together for 5 years. They've become happily comfortable together. Alice is adorable and kind hearted, and Ed is thoughtful and a real stand-up kind of man. When Alice accidentally sees other people enjoying a rollicking, exciting sex life she starts to feel uncomfortable about her predictable sex life with Ed. She misses the fun and excitement of a new relationship and wonders if she's missed out. Of course Ed tells her that having more experiences doesn't mean that it could make what they have better. He tries to convince her that she hasn't really missed out on anything. Alice wants instant gratification so bad she can't stand it. It's funny to watch the lies she comes up with to convince herself that it's not really a bad idea. Eventually, Ed realizes that Alice is determined and he might as well try to enjoy it. It's also interesting to see Alice and Ed's relationship contrasted with their friends' relationships. Claire, Alice's painfully insensitive older sister, is married to Peter and you wonder why, because they are so wrong for each other. But everybody knows a couple like that. They hate each other so much and do and say things that probably hurt, however they are too stubborn and callous to admit it. Lou is one of Ed's best friends. He's a skirt chasing playboy type. However, it's amusing that he's really so desperate for love that he fills his home with pets. He has two dogs and at least three cats, which he's allergic too, and he goes ballistic at the mention of giving his cats away. One of the cats has a little crush on Ed. She wants him to pet her so bad she's all over him. It's ironic that the most loving attention Ed gets is from the cat. Carl is Ed's other best friend. He's clueless, says all the wrong things at the wrong time, but so endearing. He falls for this harried single mom, Penelope, who's trying to pull her life together and not doing a very good job of it. Carl rescues her from spinning out of control. Venita is Alice's best friend and coworker. She's smart and caring. She tries to be Alice's voice of reason, but Alice is set on accomplishing her outrageous goal. At first seeing other people ramps up Alice and Ed's sex life, and eventually this experiment starts to wear them down, but their misadventures are hilarious. They meet all the crazy people that singles complain about when they are looking for love.

Julianne Nicholson brings a perfect sweet innocence to Alice. Jay Mohr is charming as Ed. Josh Charles (somebody give that man a tv show and get the "Sports Night" dvd set if you haven't already) plays Lou with such a delicious sense of humor. Lauren Graham is hard core as Claire, not at all like Lorelei Gilmore, but plays the humorous side of Claire perfectly. Bryan Cranston, the dad form "Malcolm in the Middle," is almost unrecognizable as Peter; he plays creepy, sleazy so believably you want to cringe. Andy Richter is adorable and clueless and Carl, you just have to love him. I didn't recognize Helen Slater as Penelope, she's as wonderfully clueless as Carl.

The movie is beautifully shot; the colors and the views are fantastic. I never noticed that it's a low budget film. They borrowed houses from friends and the producer to use as their sets. And the music is great. Ed and Alice's theme music is campy and retro. It all pulls together very nicely.