Rating: 
Summary: A very sentimental film
Review: "I'd always wanted to make an unsentimental film about the complexities of women's friendships," declares the director of "Me Without You." The film is however, very sentimental, and explores the love relationships of its two main characters. Sometimes they share the same love interest, at times involuntarily. Sometimes they hate each other over a lover. Sometimes they laugh, and sometimes they cry. The film is also quite simple and not complicated at all. That hurts it a little. We would have loved to go deeper into what makes up a woman/woman friendship; very special and very desirable on one hand, but very difficult and suffocating on the other. The director chooses to just treat the visible part of the subject matter, and does so successfully. The result - a film as charming as its two characters/interpreters. Michelle Williams especially, gives a very subtle and emotional performance, that her role in "Dawson's Creek" doesn't allow. A very "cute" film about love in general. For those who have a wonderfully suffocating best-friend, they will relate well to this piece. PhilEd. www.Au-Cinema.com
Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely Amazing
Review: A wonderful coming of age movie that grabs you right from the beginning and keeps you interested throughout the whole film.
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Rating:
Summary: Predictable
Review: Although I truly liked this movie, I found myself stifling an inner, "Come ON!" too many times. Michelle Williams is adorable but obviously American. She's no Renee Zellweger when it comes to "becoming English". Anna Friel was remarkably good, but deserved a better character to show off her talents. The story itself attempts to be a portrayal of competitive friendship, but looses focus in its forced absurdity. The characters avoid communication in situations that could easily be resolved with a few honest minutes of conversation. The verbal back-and-forth that *is* so horrifyingly portrayed in the movie are pointed at the most boring and painful-to-watch "intellectual" exchanges are no fun to be involved in and less fun to watch. The ending is such a let down and far too predictable. It's almost as if the director realized that he was kissing the hour-and-a-half running time he was anticipating and tacked a "Oh, yeah, 7 years later they all lived... uh... ever after?" on the end. The DVD itself has nothing to speak of in the way of special features - just the typical scene selection, audio options, and trailers buttons. *yawn* If you're bored and don't feel like taking a nap, there are worse ways to spend your time then by watching this movie. It should be a rental, however.
Rating:
Summary: all women have a friendship like this at one point
Review: Beautiful exotic Marina and calm, "mousy" Holly are lifelong best friends, starting when they are little girls in England and progressing through the years till they are grown women. Holly has a crush on Marina's brother Nat from the time she is a young girl on. Marina is jealous of this and does what she can to never let Holly know that her brother actually cares for her. There is an especially touching and funny scene in the early 1978 when the two go to a party where the Clash is rumored to appear. Their full-on 1970s-rocker regalia is great, and the fact that they give each other lovebites beforehand so that they come off as experienced with guys is touching in a way only 14-year-olds who take themselves seriously can be. It is at this (rather lame) party that Holly loses her virginity to Nat, and Marina is upset. As time goes by, it gets worse. In the 1980s in college, they end up seeing the same professor romantically, who claims (falsely) that he had not known they were friends. Holly sticks by Marina no matter what, because she is her friend. This is the same reason Marina constantly stabs Holly in the back. Their definiteions of friendship are so different, and Holly gets more and more stuck and put-upon by Marina till finally things come to a head and there is just no turning back. I highly recommend this movie to all women, they will recognize parts of themselves in one or the other, and not necessarily like themselves for it. But one of the great things about independent films is they don't always have happy endings and are uncomfortably true to life. So be it.
Rating: 
Summary: Clever and Powerful. A must!
Review: Friendships can be odd. And I have never seen a more realistic friendship depicted on film than that of Marina and Holly in the engrossing and powerful "Me Without You." The film brilliantly reveals a less tidy, more insidious version of 'friends forever', one in which undying loyalty coexists with cruelty and subterfuge. There's no question the friendship between affection-starved man-eater Marina (Anna Friel) and studious Holly (Michelle Williams) will spin out of control. The script by Goldbacher and Laurence Coriat paints Marina as spiteful from puberty on, her deceptions growing more vicious and unbelievable as the picture moves from the pair's 1970s girlhood into young adulthood. Goldbacher is adept at visual storytelling, capturing intimate moments with breathtaking acuity. She's also got a couple of spirited actresses in her corner. Williams drops her "Dawson's Creek" persona immediately, mastering a middle-class English accent and kindly, mousy demeanor. The actress' manner fits a girl whose mother has told her, by way of comfort, "Some girls are pretty, and some are smart." Her performance is touching, heartfelt, and certainly eye-opening. She is truly an underrated actress. Friel wonderfully conveys her sadistic character's tortured bond to her friend. She turns a scene where Marina tells Holly, "There's no me without you," into something poignant instead of overwrought. Her performance is powerful, emotional, and beautiful. Kyle MacLachlan ("Sex and the City") makes an insinuating weasel as a professor who sparks romantic hopes in both young women. As Marina's cocktail- swilling mother, Trudie Styler (Sting's wife) cuts a glamorously wasted figure, the kind of woman who's great fun as your friend's mother and a nightmare as your own.
Much of "Me Without You" strikes a familiar chord and intelligently captures the difficulties that can disrupt even a close friendship. Goldbacher often spins her story against the backdrop of 1970s British pop records, including The Clash, Adam Ant and Depeche Mode. It's a wonderfully entertaining film that is true to life and gut-wrenchingly real. A wonderful little gem that deserves to be seen.
Rating:
Summary: At Best, A Rocky Friendship
Review: Going through the cable channels, I came across this movie and left it at that channel. Anna Friel, last I saw her as the wife of Nick Leeson (portrayed by Ewan McGregor)in "Rouge Trader", plays the outrageous Holly. American actress Michelle Williams is her bookish and shy best friend Marina. The movie focuses on their friendship from when they are children to their teen years and as adults depicting their different personalities and the men that come and go into their lives. One person that stands out is Holly's brother, Nat, who Marina has been in love with since she first saw him. He is the center of Holly and Marina's friendship. Holly would rather Marina not have anything to do with her brother. She uses her brother to control her friend and Marina, at times, allows Holly to do that to her. Their relationship takes a pivotal turn in Holly is engaged to be married and is expecting.
Friendships take time to build and can take a matter of seconds to be destroyed. In this movie, Holly and Marina, two different individuals remain strong ties despite their ups and downs and backgrounds. The music provided a good backdrop for the movie asn well as the clothing of the decade.
Their friendship had been through some odds and ends. One should let the other go so that one could make her own decisions and see what is in store for her. It could have made them or break them.
Rating: 
Summary: Another nostalgia nightmare.
Review: Has anyone else out there noticed how many "Nostalgia" films are churned out these days? Many of us are still in love with the 80s, so perhaps this explains it. "Nostalgia" is the label I give to films which depict a group of people as they pass through several decades together. Music of the period must also be heavily emphasized, and to be honest, it was the music that drew me to this film. Successful entries in the genre include "Velvet Goldmine," and "Still Crazy." "Rock Star" was a mediocre attempt, and "Hysterical Blindness" is a Nostalgia film that should be avoided at all costs. "Me Without You" follows the lives of two British girls through several decades beginning with the 1970s. Holly is a shy girl from a very stable Jewish home, but her next door neighbour, Marina, has a much more interesting and unstable home life. When the film begins, the girls are both in their early teens. Holly is content to stay in Marina's shadow, and Marina is a rather unpleasant and much bolder character whose unpleasantness becomes more significant as the years pass. As the girls pass through each decade, the screen informs the viewer of the year change, and in case you miss this, clues are liberally dropped over each scene. For example, when the decade shifts to the 80s, immediately we get the 80s music, and in case anyone doesn't recognize it, there's a HUGE Joy Division poster hanging in a prominent place on the wall. It's all so rather clumsily done, and quite frankly, this was a very boring film. None of the characters held my interest. The film was salvaged from the one-star rating only by the performance of Anna Friel as the nasty Marina. She was the only one to add any life to this otherwise rather dismal film--displacedhuman.
Rating:
Summary: Oh the joys of female friendships...
Review: I found that this movie was very true to life. How many times do I remember wanting my best female friend to go away but stay beside me forever? That's the phenomenon about it. Sometimes, there seems to be a very strong, mysterious bond between women. It's like: no matter what happens, you can come back together and fix whatever went wrong. (This review has a couple of spoilers: don't read if you haven't seen the movie.) That's how I felt watching this movie. It showed the years go by for Marina and Holly (they constantly referred to themselves as Harina) to show that they were "one." It started out when they were young girls and followed them through their 20's. At the beginning, you see that Marina is the "wild" one and Holly is the more practical, "good" girl. Troubles start to happen when the girls reach their teenage years. All along, Holly has had a crush on Marina's brother Nat, and it seems that he feels the same way about her. (SPOILER) Unfortunately, Marina seems to do everything in her power to keep the two of them away from each other, including: ripping up a letter for Holly from her brother the day after Holly and Nat had sex. Time goes on, and they move into their 20's. People start to realize that they are very connected to each other, but to some, it seems a bit unhealthy. (Another SPOILER) They both get involved with their tutor, played by Kyle Machlachlan, and when each one finds out about the other, it temporarily ruins their friendship. (This is why you should not let men come between two women! It never works!) Anyway... Towards the end, we find that Marina needs Holly a lot more than Holly needs Marina. She tends to feel suffocated by Marina, who claims.. "There is no me without you." (Hopefully, I got the quote right.) It all feels very dramatic, beautiful, and horrible at the same time, because you feel for this girl that has no identity without her best friend. I really enjoyed this movie and I thought that Michelle Williams's accent was great! It felt like she worked a LOT with the dialogue coach to get it just right. The chemistry worked for all of the characters. The only reason I gave it four stars and not five, was because I would have liked to see Holly come out and face Marina about her manipulative nature and about the fact that she was keeping her away from Nat for so long. Maybe that's not important to others, but if someone was lying to me and being so cunning, I would have a hard time staying such good friends. Also, I think that it ended too easily, like a neatly tied bow, although very sweet. It made me feel sentimental and miss my female friends terribly! You should see this movie if you are nostalgic like me!!
Rating:
Summary: beautiful
Review: I just watched this movie for the second time. I rented it last night and it is truly amazing. Although Marina is an extreme case of the absorbing and dominant type of friend, women have experienced a Marina to some extent. The performances were impecable. For the last weeks I've been watching old movies because the new releases are nothing but rubbish (fast cars and mindless plots). Finally, a movie that is simple yet deep.
Rating:
Summary: FILM=GOOD....DVD=BAD
Review: I loved this movie when I saw it in the theatre
and couldn't wait for it to be released on DVD.
But don't believe them when they say "widescreen"
I guess it is in a sorta fakey-letterbox way,
but it's obviously not the film's true aspect ratio.
The opening credits are, but it promptly switches to the disapointing black bars that really just annoy me more,
because it still almost has to pan&scan in some scenes.
Either "format to fit my screen"
or give me the movie the way it was shot.
Not this crappy inbetween cop-out, damnit. Other than that, the film is great.
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