Review of About Alex (2014) by Ricardo A — 04 May 2015

The chemistry is there, and the cast is near flawless, but what separates this movie from a movie of the same rite like The Big Chill is the fact that this movie doesn't do much to help. The Big Chill spoke to the solace and love that's found in friendship in the midst of tragedy, but About Alex only uses suicide as a plot device to get all the characters in one location.

The performances are stellar though. Specifically from the wildly talented Aubrey Plaza and Max Greenfeld, who has never been better.

I also really appreciate Jess Zwick's direction, just not so much his script beyond moments of clever dialogue. He embraces the opportunity to allow chemistry between his actors without sacrificing the visual storytelling.

Overall, it's a well-directed and very well-acted piece of filmmaking. It just brings up to many glaringly obvious comparisons to films like The Big Chill and St. Elmo's Fire, both of which handle the subject matter to much better avail. I enjoyed it, but not enough to make me want to recommend it to others.