With a poster like that, how was I expected to resist?

Here’s the round up of James Cox (Wonderland)’s Straight A’s.

Please note that there may be spoilers. Read at your own risk.

THE STORY:

Name it – pills, weed, alcohol – and Scott (Ryan Phillippe – Crash)’s probably already done it. He’s the family screw-up and suddenly he decides to drop in on his brother William (Luke Wilson – The Family Stone)’s suburban house to make amends with him and their Alzheimer-ridden father (Powers Boothe – MacGruber ), all under the instructions of his dead mother who he claims to have frequent conversations with. Unfortunately, William is out of town for business so Scott decides to wreak havoc on his ex-girlfriend-turned-sister-in-law Katherine (Anna Paquin- True Blood)’s life by bonding with their children, adorable Charles (Riley Thomas Stewart- The Lucky One) and Gracie (Ursula Parker – 666 Park Avenue).

THE GOOD:

1. The soundtrack. It was perfect! Light and jolly when needed and for some reason was very reminiscent of the Juno playlist.
2. Ryan Phillippe had no business looking that good after all these years. I mean seriously, where does he get off being this hot? It’s like he hasn’t aged a day since Cruel Intentions and he definitely still had that Valmont sex appeal, only ya know, Southern-ized. Acting-wise it wasn’t anything special; we all know that Ryan Philippe can bring it and in this particular role he was well within his range, although perhaps under challenged.
3. The crazy shit that tumbled out of those adorable kids’ mouths. It was very endearing and it only served to highlight the fact that yeah, even though Gracie and Charles had the crisp clothes, the vast backyard to play with, the nanny and the driver-slash-gardener, they still lacked parental supervision.
4. The lens flares. They can be a little bit distracting at times but I liked them; they made the visuals a lot more interesting and the last scene before the credits rolled was genius.

THE BAD:

1. There weren’t enough scenes with the dad. It was supposed to be a very big plot point but it wasn’t explored enough. I mean, why was he so mad at Scott anyway? A couple of flashbacks would’ve been useful. Also, was Scott right? Was he faking being sick?
2. The rift between the two brothers wasn’t properly explained. I really thought that Scott just dropped by for a visit to his big brother; apparently said big brother hated his guts. Why…? I mean, yeah, he’s a general screw-up in everything but that hostility hinted at something more personal. What was it?
3. The rift between the husband and wife wasn’t properly explained either. Why did he want to leave her again? Was she or wasn’t she out of love with her husband? The whole thing was so disjointed that by the time they were talking on that couch, I was hard pressed to believe that any of that interaction was real.

THE UGLY:

1. The twist. It wasn’t set up properly and came like a truck careening inside the middle aisle of the theater. What the hell was that? There’re twists and then there’re sad lazy excuses to end a movie. It was all going well and I had sympathy for all the characters on screen up until the point Scott entered that bathroom. They tried to set it up cleverly with the booze and the pills, but it just didn’t make sense when it ended. Also, was this supposed to be the explanation why Scott was such a big asshole?

All in all Straight A’s was endearing in all the right places and I thought that the story of the hidden skeletons of a suburban family was interesting enough to be explored. It was working well too, and you do root for the protagonist’s change of heart. Then that twist happened. Out of nowhere. Suddenly the movie takes a turn that you didn’t think was even in the horizon for a movie like this. Had the film makers gone the opposite way, I think that the choices the characters made in the end to decide to make their damaged relationships work would’ve been more realistic and more emotionally impacting. As it is the movie would probably leave you confused and skeptical of the authenticity of the ending. It just all seemed contrived.

THE VERDICT: 4.8/10. Solid performances from the crew but not even the 3/4s of the movie can salvage the shit they threw at us during the home stretch.

*All photos are lifted from the film’s IMDB page.