Rating: 
Summary: One of the best things I have ever witnessed
Review: So sad, today, the state of cinema. In a world where we live, where A Beautiful Mind can win best picture and Denzel Washington can win best actor for playing a bad guy-in a world where we think "blax-poitation" films are a thing of the past (what would you call the funny black guy with the serious white guy? That just won't die... see the box office cash register for RUSH HOUR 1 and 2) and when we're told Steven Speilberg is "A great Storyteller"- the guy doesn't even write his scripts... what stories does he tell? When screenwriters and directors are hired after the stars have signed up for the films... accept all of this... then watch this beatiful piece of work... it is one of the best, and most important things I've seen in a long time... and ya know what? A select few will EVER see it.. such a shame.
Rating: 
Summary: storyteller solondz
Review: Storytelling is a typical Todd Solondz fare. Solondz is incredibly deft at placing an unflinching eye on the dark, disturbing undercurrents of everyday life that we all experience yet only discuss in therapy sessions. Humor in disturbing situations; misfits, outcasts and misunderstood individuals and a keen, satirical sense of suburban life abound throughout as in every Solondz film. However, if you're expecting 'Welcome to the Dollhouse' or 'Happiness' then Storytelling will disappoint. It falls short at reaching the highs of past films, yet still maintains that familiar edge.Storytelling's only problem is its sense of balance. Divided into two parts, Fiction and NonFiction, the Fiction half lasts about 20 minutes. A strange story of a girl who has a humiliating sexual encounter with her Black creative writing teacher that she later writes about. The NonFiction half lasts well over an hour, a tense account of the "perfect" suburban family slowly and tragically disintegrating in front a documentary camera crew. The balance should have been attained through either a sense of continuity between the stories or, as another reviewer mentioned, at least one or two more vignettes. When the credits rolled I felt disappointed that there wasn't at least one more tale to tell. In in any case, Storytelling is Solondz in top form. Proof postive that Solondz is an excellent storyteller.
Rating: 
Summary: 1 Star for DVD; 3 for the Movie
Review: I won't bother reviewing much of the actual film other than that i think the 2 halves of the movie never really gel together like they're supposed to (or are they?). Transfer of film to DVD is pretty grainy in some scenes(the nighttime ones). The back of the box claims "animated menus" but all i saw were standard NON-animated menus. I also found this DVD to be very skimpy in extras. For example, there's no director's commentary. Probably the worst thing is that the deleted scenes are excluded from the disc. The original version of the film was roughly an hour longer and featured another vignette featuring James Van Der Beek. Todd Solondz was apparently upset over the producer's cuts and blamed them for the film's lukewarm response. So where are the scenes that would complete Solondz vision? Apparently, not on this disc.
Rating: 
Summary: not a pretty picture, 2 episodes = 2 stars
Review: I found this movie to be quite disturbing in parts without necessarily having to be or adding to the overall effect of the movie, in fact, certain scenes merely showcased the directors need to shock and alienate the audience as he did so well in Happiness yet the difference is , a person can only take so much wretchedness and filth disguised as Art before the disguise itself becomes tiresome and we see this film for what it really is....2 episodes of the Jerry Springer Show cunningly played out by credible actors in an "American Beauty" like setting.
Rating:
Summary: A Terrible, Terrible Film
Review: Please - I implore you - DO NOT waste your money on this god-awful film! Todd Solondz has gone WAY off course with this one. Spend your money on "Welcome to the Dollhouse" or "Happiness" and pretend this abomination never happened.
Rating:
Summary: Worst movie ever
Review: I am one of those people who loves almost every movie I see. But, there are always exceptions. I think Storytelling is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Maybe I just didn't understand it or something, but it did nothing for me. Wait, that's wrong. It, at times, offended me, bored me, confused me, and [made me mad]. Very rarely did I feel entertained. There are two different stories, one titled "fiction" and the other "non-fiction." In many movies with seemingly unrelated plot lines, they manage to weave together by the end. In this movie, they stay completely unrelated. There is no character overlap and no apparent reason that the two are both in the same movie. The only thing I liked about this movie was the appearance of Conan O'Brian. He was hilarious, and that was the one scene where I laughed out loud. But, really, it was the only good thing I can remember.
Rating:
Summary: Storytelling ROCKS!
Review: Aiight, yall. Buy this DVD, because Todd Solondz is awesome. That's all I'm going to say about the movie, but I see that people are confused about production, so I'll clarify. It was always meant to be Fiction and Non-Fiction, just those two stories, however, James Van Der Beek of Dawson fame was to play a part in the Fiction story. It was all filmed, but cut out, and will not be seen on the DVD because of many reasons. The final movie is great, but definitely missing something - I feel that Van Der Beek's part shouldn't have been cut out. Get it anyway though, I think I enjoyed it better than Happiness.
Rating:
Summary: pain, but no gain
Review: I found this movie rather distasteful, even though it is funny at times and does make a few valid observations. This doesn't justify its ugliness, though, and doesn't make it worth sitting through.
Rating: 
Summary: A Telling Story?
Review: The title of this film suggests the true target of Solondz's satire: America's depiction of itself.
*
'American Scooby' is the documentary being made in the second half of the film, and many of the ideas of 'American Beauty' are held up for ridicule - the rather empty premiss of a bag blown by the wind being a moment of transcendent beauty becomes overtly pathetic when seen here as a scrap of paper doing the same; dinner table scenes lose their earnestness and slip into an even less 'acceptable' criticism of middle class aspirations; nostalgia for high school, be it through the bizarre (to non-American eyes) obsession with the yearbook and 'prom', or with sport and cheerleaders, is lampooned from several angles; homosexuality and drug use are robbed of their importance as transgressions (compare Scooby's nonchalant bedroom scene with the angst these issues generate in 'American Beauty') . Aiming more generally at American storytelling, the young child loses its status as canonical symbol of all that is good and innocent and worth preserving and becomes the mouthpiece of so-called 'conservative' values; the role of the child symbol itself is satirised by the child hypnotising the adult.
*
If all the above sounds a trifle abstract and theoretical, well, it is - and, unfortunately, so is the film. By being so self-conscious and meta-critical, the film distances the audience from the characters and their actions. There's humour, no question, but rather than unrestrained belly laughs it's more a case of polite chortles to acknowledge cleverness or daring.
*
The first section of the film possibly has another film in mind for satire - could be 'Finding Forrester' in part, but I'm afraid I haven't subjected myself to enough mediocre Hollywood films to be sure. In any case, the basic scenarios break taboos, but again the characters are only drawn in a rudimentary fashion, precluding any empathy - so the satire works only at a distance.
*
After seeing the film, I asked - Why did Solondz make this film? The best answer I could come up with is that he is disgusted by the dishonesty inherent in standard Hollywood representations of middle class America, even allegedly critical representations such as 'American Beauty'. Okay. Fair enough. But Solondz's own portrayal, or uncovering, of average life is not convincing, in fact, it's not even interesting (I don't think he wants to attempt such a portrayal in this film, although he did in 'Happiness') - most of the interest comes from recognising his satire of current conventions in American film itself. And then the question becomes - Are 'Amercian Beauty' and its ilk worth and hour and a half of feature film satirising? I'm not so sure.
Rating:
Summary: Creative Portrait Of Story Writers
Review: Storytelling was directed by Todd S. who also did Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness. His movies tend to be black comedies where he mocks those that are dysfunctional or seen as different from the norm. This movie was a look at him and the way he writes stories. He has been put down in the past for making fun of vulnerable people and this was sort of a movie mocking himself. The first story is fiction, where it shows how writers and wanna be writers use sex as a way to get noticed or vice versa writing as a way to get sex. Their is a definate focus on difference in the story, blacks, punk rock subculture, cerebral palsey and sex addition, are they really so diffrent than the majority?? The second story is non-fiction, which I think, shows us some of what the director wants you to see about himself. The story starts out with a starving artist who wants to write a documentary on how high school students get into college. At first, the subject matter is the concern but things start to change as he begins to feel a certain sense of sucess. His need to get an audience outweighs the seriousness that was once the tone of his story. He wants it to be a comedy whereby he will mock his main character. This will all be done without telling his documentary subjects what he is doing. In essence, where is the compassion? We see this all through the stories, all the people are living out some role and either perpatrate or become a victim. Connections, becoming famous, sucess and wealth are they really so great? Have we lost touch with what really matters, even those who are being victimized, have they lost touch as well? A hard movie to take in some ways, a hard core scene in the first story. Those of you who might get shocked over heavy sex scenes and swearing may not want to see this movie. Todd S. puts things right out there in your face and doesn't hide from it or avoid it.
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