The Giant Mechanical Man
Synopsis
An offbeat romantic comedy about a silver-painted street performer and the soft spoken zoo worker who falls for him.
Cast
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Chris Messina.
Those two magical words are enough to get me to watch pretty much anything. I was expecting a quirky rom-com, but that's not what this is. People saying this is quirky were watching it differently than me, because I thought these were two generically boring characters thrown into a cookie-cutter mold of a romantic comedy. Then, somebody took all the comedy out, put in a bunch of sadness and mid-life-crises-ness, manufactured a romance out of thin air, and added in some minor characters that were supposed to be funny (they weren't). It's so boring that I actually turned it off 2 minutes before it ended and didn't even realize it was almost over.
But Chris Messina. On stilts. In silver makeup. The man could have amazing chemistry with a tiny rock, so it's worth watching if you like his adorable self and Jenna Fischer (from the Office).
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A movie billed as a "quirky, indie romcom" such as this one seemingly gets released by the dozens every year. Two deadbeat losers who become attracted to one another because their offbeat attitudes are just OH SO incredibly magnetic that it's a wonder they weren't conjoined twins who were separated at birth. The resulting hour and half you're forced to watch these two fumble over their feelings for each other as they pussyfoot through their interactions leading into a predictable conclusion that you could see coming from a mile away.
There is absolutely nothing redeemable with The Giant Mechanical Man. It's a paint by numbers film that doesn't venture past your usual indie romcom structure to make it standout. One…
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The Giant Mechanical Man is an ok indie romance that reminded me of Next Stop Wonderland. There is a quietness about it, the characters' awkwardness is never hidden, and while much of the film is set at the zoo, many of the zoo scenes are in an aquarium, much like Next Stop Wonderland.
The only problem I had with the film is that I didn't quite buy into Janice and Tim, the main characters. They are the new social misfits: the over-educated unambitious 30 somethings who don't know what they want. That's fine. What isn't is that you know this because all the secondary characters are so over-the-top stupid and nagging and careless that you have to root for poor…
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Review from my VOD column "This Week on Demand".
There’s a character in The Giant Mechanical Man—amusingly played by an impressively obnoxious Topher Grace—who thinks himself far smarter and funnier than he really is. He’s a good reflection of the film itself, in a way, its resolute adherence to formulaic rom-com structure and constant inability to raise more than a mild chuckle withholding the charm that might otherwise issue forth from its quirky characters. Both reliable supporting performers in their television careers, neither Jenna Fischer nor Chris Messina is quite strong enough to shoulder a feature film, the two between them just about managing to support the reluctant relationship between their characters, both dead-end thirty-somethings hopelessly lost in life. Admirable as his intentions are, writer/director Lee Kirk struggles to confront the seriousness of his themes, the ultimate slightness of his approach counterproductive to the severity of the ideas he aims to tackle.
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A great independent film with a meaningful story. Fischer and Messina are great together.
Unfortunately the film's script is a very predictable rom-com-ish story.
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Don't poke the fucking monkey!
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I always find Jenna Fischer charming as hell whether it's on The Office or the various independent films she's in. Here she has great chemistry Chris Messina as two people that might seem quirky at first, but that's just compared to other rom-coms. The fact is their characters, Janice and Tim, are more realistic then what you'd usually find in this type of film.
Their just…
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A quirky premise for a film without actually being quirky. The only thing this film accomplished was boring me to tears.
Chris Messina plays a man who dresses up everyday as a giant mechanical man to bring some cheer into the lives of casual New Yorkers. Jenna Fischer plays a neurotic lost woman bouncing from job to job, searching for something to interest her.
Chris Messina is a brilliant actor and Jenna Fischer is fun and cute but they are never given the material to work with to really make an impact. I felt like they were trying to get me to root for them and trying to get me to care about where these characters lives were going but I cared about neither.
The story dragged along to a mediocre and predictable ending. These two leads deserve better than this.
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I really like this film... it was really sweet. I would watch it again!
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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I really enjoyed this movie. Feeling lost & being found.
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I have a weakness. I'll compare this movie to others which came out this year like Safety Not Guaranteed and Friends With Kids. All three of these movies are these indie romantic comedies starring television comedy stars and for some reason I buy into them completely. So when I give this movie 5 out of 5, it's one of those movies where I fully expect everyone I know to not see what I see and give it a much lower score, yet I'm so totally in that it doesn't really matter.
I really enjoyed their relationship, the concept of doing things despite everyone telling you it's stupid and just letting yourself be happy with what you have. I had actually previously not liked Chris Messina due to how much I dislike The Mindy Project but he was charming and adorable in this, especially as the Mechanical Man.
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While there is nothing particularly special about the movie, it wasn't cheesy and wasn't too generic to bore me. Jenna Fischer does her usual bit and so does Chris Messina, even Cyril Figgis makes an appearance as the Step-brother to Fischers' character as well.
I can understand how others can rate this movie lower, but the movie actually sucked me in and by the end I was glad I viewed this movie and would even recommend it to others.
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Predictable but with endearing characters.
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A few nice moments, mostly typical love story.
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Absolutely perfect.