Review of The Cake Eaters (2007) by Sukhitha J — 27 Dec 2010

(Well... I try to write my first little review here on RT. Hope it'll be ok. Note that there could be some mistakes; English is not my mother tongue...).

It is pretty difficult to rate The Cake Eaters properly. The movie is definetely flawed and its plot is as simple as it is underdeveloped.

But nevertheless it manages to really touch you.

The characters are very well-drawn and even better played. Although they're all introduced in short scenes and with little effort (e.g. the first scene with Beagle and Easy eating breakfast) you'll soon get the feeling that you've known them for a long time. They are all natural, authentic and sympathetic in their own different ways, so that you're soon following their fate and actually forget about the thin plot. The characters alone offer enough to care and think about. The different feelings and emotions are expressed in a very subtle, unspectacular way, which emphasizes the calm and realistic tone of the film.

It's a movie about love (not only love between two people) but it's not really a love-story. And it's definetly not romantic (at least not your classic romantism). But that makes it more natural and a good alternation of all the replaceable (teenie) love movies you usually get to see.

In the end it's that modesty, the calmness and the genuineness of the film, combined with very nice cinematography and rememberable performances of the four leads (with Elizabeth Ashley as the hilight) which makes it a movie definetley worth watching. A movie which unfolds despite its unspectacular story and visibly small budget a very impressive emotional power. And that's quite an achievement.

Just a side-note: since I'm a fan of Kristen Stewart (not the "Bella Kristen Stewart") I've seen all the "quality" movies she took part in since Panic Room. And The Cake Eaters is the only one in which you really do not recognise her again (figuratively speaking). Everybody who thinks she "acts always the same" (which is definetely not completely wrong) should really see this movie. She's rather great.