Director: Joshua Land
Writer: Abby Sussman, Joshua Land (Screenplay) Ben Cagan, Abby Sussman, Joshua Land (Story)
Starring: Sue Schaffel, Anna Fagan, Chris Kozlowski, Jackson Trent, Alex Palting, Jonathan Helwig, Melissa Robinson, Mindy Shaw
Plot: In the midst of family tensions, an egocentric free spirit who hits rock bottom finds unexpected success as a self-empowerment guru after publishing a self-help book.
Tagline – Discover the positivi-me in your life!
Runtime: 1 Hour 23 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Motivation Based Comedy
Story: I Like Me starts with Maggie (Schaffel) and her sister Hannah (Fagan) father’s funeral, where Maggie has returned to town along with her reckless behaviour, not thinking before talking and drinking habits, turns to Hannah for a place to stay, where things only continue to see the tension grow between the sisters.
When Maggie learns Hannah is reading self-help books, she decides to read them and write her own, which makes her an overnight sensation with her books popularity going viral, but now she needs to start putting her own life back together.
Thoughts on I Like Me
Characters – Maggie is a free spirit that has spent most of her life being carefree, she returns home for her father’s funeral where she invites herself to stay with her half-sister, Maggie will drink too much and cause constant stress in her sister’s life, while not even getting a conversation out of her son. She writes a self-help book that makes her a big star, which offers her a chance to help people, but she struggles to deal with her own problems in life. Hannah is the younger half-sister of Maggie, she is married and looking for a promotion at work, she has her life pretty much together, until Maggie arrives in her life and things start to go wrong. Luke is Hannah’s husband that is still feeling young heart being a fan of disco bowling. Michael is the son of Maggie’s, the person she most wants back in her life, but he keeps his distance from her.
Performances – Sue Schaffel and Anna Fagan take the leading roles, they show us great chemistry through the film as they both have to show the ups and downs of their lives. Chris Kozlowski will get most of the laughs in the film.
Story – The story here follows a free spirit that returns to her home town, where she tries to put her life back together with her self-help book making her an internet sensation, but can she fix her own life before it is too late. This is a story that does focus on the idea that people will need help in everybody life, people might turn to books, but in reality it will always be yourself that helps the most. We do see how people can go off the rails and will try to find their own directions, while we will also people that seem to be grounded, but lack direction. We do get the important messages here and by the end of the film you will understand the meaning behind everything in the story.
Comedy – The comedy in the film comes from Maggie’s action and a lot comes from Luke just trying to be a good husband without ever siding with anybody.
Settings – The film keeps the settings simple enough being everyday home locations, until we go to the disco bowling which adds the color and fun to the life of the characters.
Scene of the Movie – Disco bowling.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – There could have been more on Maggie’s childhood, like was she raised with Hannah, who was her mother.
Final Thoughts – This is a fun comedy that does have a life message involved, it will get the laughs and has strong performances throughout.
Overall: Fun comedy.
