Review of Charlie Countryman (2013) by Barry T — 07 Mar 2015

Review:

I quite enjoyed this movie at the beginning because of it's quirky humor, but it gets a bit messy after a while and the storyline about the gangsters went a bit too far. The film is about a teenager (LaBeouf) who, after the death of his mum, decides to go to Bucharest after receiving a message from his mums spirit. He meets a man on the plane journey there, who also dies and he also talks to LaBeouf via his spirit, telling him to give his daughter a hat. When he eventually meets his daughter, he falls head over heels in love with her, but she's married to a violent gangster who isn't willing to give her up that easily. There are some other elements to the storyline, like the videotape recording of the violent murder and LaBeouf's crazy roommates but it's primarily a love story plagued with faults, right from the very beginning. The storyline was original but the director tried to cram too many things in at once which made it feel like an on going rollacoaster. LaBeouf did give his all throughout the movie, but it seemed like he was getting battered by everybody. Anyway, I liked the wit at the beginning but I got bored of the love story and it just didn't gel together that well. Average!

Round-Up:

Shia LaBeouf is really doing some weird movies lately and he really has gone full circle since Transformers. From lode sex scenes in Nymphomaniac to the deep war drama Fury, he has showed that he has a wide range to his choice of movies. My problem is that he seems to act the same in all of his films, but he did show a different side in this movie. It made me laugh when he was on the ecstasy tablet and he did show some emotion at the beginning when he was talking to his mum, but he still has this boyish look which is hard to ignore. I liked the fact that he chose the ballsy role in Fury, which he played quite well alongside Brad Pitt, but he still hasn't found his niche yet. Mads Mikkelson played his part as the jealous boyfriend, convincingly well and I would be scared of him if I was walking down a dark alley and the girl was also very well chosen by the director. Rupert Grint and James Buckley were also great choices as LaBeouf's roommates but that storyline didn't really go anywhere. Anyway, it's an OK film for what it is but I can understand why it didn't make that much money at the box office.

Budget: N/A.

Worldwide Gross: $450,000 (Terrible!).

I recommend this movie to people who are into their comedy/romance/thrillers about a teenager who goes to Bucharest, after his mums death, and falls in love with a gangsters girlfriend. 4/10.