Director: Mark Pellington
Writer: Mark Pellington, Glenn Porter (Screenplay) Glenn Porter (Story)
Starring: Thomas Jane, Jeremy Piven, Rob Lowe, Christian McKay, Carla Gugino, Tom Bower, Arielle Kebbel, Zander Eckhouse
Plot: When four 40-something college friends meet up for their annual reunion, things start to spiral out of control, and a pact they made as young men is revisited.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Bad, Silly and Terrible
Story: I Melt With You starts by introducing us to our four protagonists teacher Richard (Jane), Business man Ron (Piven), Doctor Jonathan (Lowe) and Tim (McKay), they are all 44 and at different stages of their lives. All four are friends that meet up once a year for a birthday bash. They get to throw out there everyday lives for one week of drink, drug and freedom.
Fifty minutes (yes that is 50) in nothing but four 44 year old men acting like teenagers before we actually have a point to the story here when we learn Tim is haunted by the death of his sister and his boyfriend. Tim then kills himself leaving the three friends are now left to deal with the consequences as he lives a suicide note that brings up something from their past.
I Melt With You story ends up focusing on an hour long worth of partying, followed by moping around feeling guilty about something these 44 year old men did as teenagers. I just don’t understand this film at all, we have four friends 2 doing well in careers one going to get punished and the other who is dealing with issues all come together to kill themselves because of a pact. Is this even worth making a full story about, isn’t this just slightly selfish? This was terrible I will give my only positive about this film is that once the pointless partying is over we could have a good drama but because you lost my interest early on you couldn’t pull me back. (2/10)
Actor Review
Thomas Jane: Richard the teacher who arranges the wild party week with his friends supplying the booze. Thomas does a solid job but really wastes his talent here. (5/10)
Jeremy Piven: Ron business man and family man who has gotten himself into trouble with his work, once the group look back he wants to not follow through leading him to learn the truth about what the people think about him. Jeremy gives a good performance showing how he can escape comedy. (6/10)
Rob Lowe: Jonathan the doctor who supplies to party week with the drugs as well as being able to give any medical attention the friends might need. Rob gives a solid performance which is very much out of character for him. (6/10)
Christian McKay: Tim the most guilt ridden man on the trip and after it all catches up with him he takes his own life leading to the rest of the group struggling with the consequences. Christian does a good job for his screen time. (6/10)
Support Cast: I Melt With You support cast is mainly the party and a police officer who want to know what is going on but has zero intelligence. They fill up small parts of the film but really for the point of what is happening nothing they do seems to make sense.
Director Review: Mark Pellington – Mark struggles to pull the audience in with this film as the story wastes too much time over nothing early on. (3/10)
Drama: I Melt With You does have a good idea to show the drama side of the story but fails to use it well enough. (3/10)
Settings: I Melt With You creates a setting that is away from the world for the group to look at what they had promised. (8/10)
Suggestion: I Melt With You is one to miss, it offers very little to an audience to enjoy even though there is an interesting storyline that doesn’t get looked at well enough. (Skip)
Best Part: The setting is good.
Worst Part: Pointless first hour.
What Could Have Been Better? –
- Look at the pact in more detail early on.
- Cut the party scene down
Believability: No (0/10)
Chances of Tears: No (0/10)
Chances of Sequel: No
Post Credits Scene: No
Oscar Chances: No
Runtime: 2 Hours 2 Minutes
Tagline: When life hammers you, get smashed
Overall: I wasted 2 hours of my life
Rating 
