Movie of Last Week: Comet

Sorry for the delay on this posting, 2/3 of our reviewers were at Star Wars Celebration over the weekend. However, we're all back and caught up on reviews. This week's movie "Working Girl" will be posted on Friday as per usual.

Alexa: Even if you didn’t know in advance that Comet is the brainchild of Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail, you’d figure it out almost immediately. The artful way he frames the shots, the music selection, even the typography of the opening credits are all familiar to fans of the show. But while Mr. Robot can sometimes teeter on the precipice of brilliant and pretentious, I found Comet more often than not veered toward the latter. Emmy Rossum and particularly Justin Long deliver admirable performances and they have great chemistry. The movie is dialogue-heavy, and while some of their exchanges are impossible to look away from, others feel draining and overwrought. In some moments it’s refreshing to see a more realistic portrayal of ongoing obstacles in a relationship. In others you wonder why we should want this couple to end up together at all when their union is constantly fraught with tension. I also didn’t really grasp the whole parallel universe concept. It’s like Esmail was itching to try something high concept in a story that didn’t require it. Fortunately he stretched those muscles more successfully in Mr. Robot, and I would be interested to see another film from him now that he has a bit more experience under his belt.

Joel: I have long since admitted that I am a sucker for long scenes of dialogue in movies. Because of that it would seem that this movie would be right up my alley. 90% of the talking is done by the two main characters, Dell and Kimberly (played by Justin Long and Emmy Rossum respectively), and both actors do an incredible job of being able to command your attention using just their acting and the words in the script. But the movie as a whole doesn’t quite click for me. There’s a theme of “parallel universes” that shows up from time to time, suggesting that different segments may or may not take place in different universes. However, the idea doesn’t seem to really have any impact on the story or the relationship between the two characters. It’s a grandiose idea that doesn’t really have anywhere to go in this particular movie, making it feel unnecessary and awkward as a concept. Even so, the movie’s worth seeing just for the performances of the two actors and what they bring to the table in almost every scene. Just try not to get distracted by the setup that only seems to be high concept for the sake of being high concept.

Chris: First of all, the gimmick isn't necessary for this to be a good movie. I enjoyed the performances of Emily Rossum and Justin Long, I enjoyed the writing and the cinematography but even if the movie was shown chronologically, it would've been a good movie. The alternate reality thing doesn't even click until the final frame of the movie but I understand the gimmick of it all is what gets people interested to watch the movie in the first place. Personally, I would've done away with all the other moments except for the events inside the Paris hotel, I would've watched and loved a movie that was just that. It would've been a moody drama about a couple that's been fading but Justin Long's character has secretly been trying to propose the entire movie while Emily Rossum keeps cutting him off while voicing incredibly justified concerns over their declining relationship. But all-in-all, I'm glad Sam Esmail got this movie out of his system because I don't know if I could've handled this much looking down on society as his work tends to do but Mr. Robot is done in a far less obnoxious way. Visually, Comet has Sam Esmail's signature of off-centered framing, color-drowning lighting that I thoroughly enjoy as well as a main character that feels out-of-place from the rest of the world. In this case, Justin Long's character is fully satisfied with being disconnected until he meets this girl and suddenly, he unfairly needs her to feel tethered to feel normal and alright.