Dedication
by Justin Theroux
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Actor: Billy Crudup, Bob Balaban, Christine Taylor, Mandy Moore, Tom WilkinsonDirector: Justin Theroux
Brand: WELLSPRING/GENIUS
Producer: Carina Alves
Producer: Celine Rattray
Producer: Daniela Lundberg Taplin
Producer: Galt Niederhoffer
Producer: Jai Stefan
Producer: Jessica Levin
Writer: David Bromberg
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, NTSC, Widescreen
Running Time: 95 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-02-12
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Weinstein Company
DVD Reviews of Dedication
DVD Review: Dedication by Brandon
Summary: 5 Stars
I saw this movie in the theaters and had to buy the dvd. First of all, I love Mandy Moore and would buy anything with her in it. It's a romantic love story about a man with serious issues and he falls for Mandy. Very good.DVD Review: Neither Romantic Nor Comedy
Summary: 1 Stars
Two men view porn films to gather ideas for children's books. Since this was the most original idea in the movie, I recommend that these DVDs be immediately promoted to coffee cup coasters. The main male character is a victim of child abuse who never faced it, instead developing various obsessive compulsive behaviors in order to make him so busy with minutiae (like arranging napkin and sugar dispensers at the restaurant) that he is too busy to heal. He spends who knows how much time searching for a special rock that he gave to the female lead and then threw away, eventually finding it among the myriad stones of the beach. While some symbolism may be intended, is giving her the rock supposed to be his cathartic experience and now everybody lives happily ever after? The female lead, whose posture indicates more a need for therapy and Pilates than a relationship, gets to choose between a man who cheated on her and one whose emotional scars leave him emotionally unavailable unless she enjoys navigating the pits and falls of his damaged emotional landscape. A dreary miasma of moral relativism, substitution of co-dependency, and celebration of victim-hood as a replacement for self-actualization and love. DVD Review: Dedication to Love and Life
Summary: 5 Stars
Henry Roth (Billy Crudup) writes books for children all the while
suffering from the ramifications of a childhood with a missing father
and an abusive, probably violent, mother. He has a bit of an OCD
problem as well.
His mentor, best friend, and parent replacement, is Rudy Holt (Tom
Wilkinson), who illustrates Henry's books. When Rudy dies, Henry is
devastated. He keeps imagining seeing Rudy, thus continuing to let
'Rudy' tell him how to handle Life. Something Henry is not very good at
at his own.
He is teamed up by his publisher Planck (Bob Balaban) with a new
illustrator, Lucy (Mandy Moore). In the beginning, he treats her like
he would anybody else, which means mean, but it becomes very clear that
she is a nice person and quickly he begins to like her. But he doesn't
know how to break the habit of being strange and sarcastic. (Anybody
who's been shy and hurt knows that being rude or weird is a perfect way
to stay safe; to keep people away from the core).
Here is what he tells her in one long hilarious monologue which
conveyed by the brilliant Billy Crudup comes out exasperated,
hesitantly and too fast all at the same time and with a voice that is
nearly broken , due to the fact that he has realized that he's told her
far too much:
"I hate my mother I hate my goddamn dead father more, Rudy was the only
friend I ever had, I had a girlfriend once who I used to like to
masturbate to more than have sex with, carrots and snakes frighten me
um I'm superstitious about the numbers (3. 5. 7) I can only stir things
counter-clockwise and I know that if I don't something bad will happen,
I take a size 11 and a half shoe I don't have a favorite book, I don't
drive or ride in cars, statistically speaking you have a 100% chance of
being in an accident in your lifetime, they're death boxes, I give to
Amnesty International on the off chance that I'm ever imprisoned and
tortured for my political beliefs, paradoxically I have no political
beliefs, um Life is pain, black kids are cuter than white ones, I
didn't mean it when I compared you to our waitress I was only trying to
hurt you, I could've been meaner about your looks and what I would have
said would've made you cry, I have a towel I can't throw out because it
may have feelings, when I ejaculate I go into deep depressions, though
by any standard you're a nice person I deeply resent having to work
with you, I love Japanese monster movies, Gamera specifically.."
Ultimately, it's a love story told in a funny, quirky way and with
great performances by Billy Crudup, Tom Wilkinson, not to mention Bob
Balaban. Mandy Moore does a good job as well.
DVD Review: An Uncaring Protagonist, a Choppy Script and Indie Film Flourishes Can't Mask a Weak Love Story
Summary: 2 Stars
Like the central protagonist, this 2007 movie is a misbegotten mess. Making his directorial debut, actor Justin Theroux gets carried away with every film school trick in the book with self-conscious camerawork, annoying jump cuts and a music soundtrack that apparently has to comment on every scene. With a strangely cryptic first-time screenplay by David Bromberg, the movie boasts an impressive cast that includes Tom Wilkinson and Dianne Wiest, but it asks us to empathize with an obsessive-compulsive misanthrope whose actions alienate everyone around him. The ploy is too challenging since the character is more cruel than unfiltered, and his relentless bitterness rarely crackles with the wit necessary to get away with such boorish behavior. Moreover, subsequent attempts to humanize him feel increasingly contrived as the story progresses.
The story revolves around Henry Roth, a prickly, phobic children's book author (an intentionally ironic profession for such an uncaring jerk) who bonds only with his longtime collaborator, a curmudgeonly illustrator named Rudy. They finally achieve success with a book about Marty the Beaver's campaign to save Christmas, but then Rudy dies. Henry's poker-faced editor, Arthur Planck, wants a sequel and consequently hires a young artist named Lucy to take Rudy's place. Lucy has her share of problems - a mother who is also her landlord and willing to evict her, and an errant lover named Jeremy who wants her back after dumping her. The movie's title is derived from the dedication to Lucy in Jeremy's about-to-be-published book. Motivated by a large bonus offered by Planck, Lucy is willing to subject herself to Henry's nasty comments, but of course, a romance develops. This is where the film falters badly as the love story is sketchily developed with little discernible chemistry between the two stars.
The cast provides whatever redeeming value the film has. The usually audacious Billy Crudup does what he can as Henry, but it's an uphill battle. Better here than in last year's execrable Because I Said So, Mandy Moore brings a certain poignancy to her scenes, but her downbeat character is so depressing that the only logical response to their romance is indifference. Wilkinson easily steals his scenes as Rudy both pre- and post-mortem, while Bob Balaban plays Planck in his typically low-key fashion. Wiest plays Lucy's mother in just a couple of tersely acted scenes, while Amy Sedaris, Peter Bogdanovich, Christine Taylor and Bobby Cannavale show up in cameos. The 2008 DVD is bereft of any extras, not even the theatrical trailer, which gives you an indication of what the studio thought of its prospects.
DVD Review: You'll wonder why you're not OCD
Summary: 4 Stars
Billy Crudup plays Henry Roth, a children's writer who isn't sure what his next steps in life are. He is OCD and extremely cautious. He fears cars and isn't crazy about sex. He likes Japanese Monster films and harbors ill feelings for certain people in his life, especially women. Basically the only the he trusts is his illustrator (played by Tom Wilkinson) who dies right before their next book is supposed to be published.
This is where Lucy Reilly (played by Mandy Moore) comes in as a young illustrator on an emotional run from her ex-boyfriend/college adviser. She becomes Henry's illustrator and some where along the way we get hints as to why Henry is "screwed up" and the two fall in love. This is not a romantic comedy (even though it's listen in that drama). It is a story about two very real people and the importance of trust ... and how it must develop somehow before love does.
This story gets a four because it wasn't PERFECT but worth watching more than once. I was very excited to find that Mandy Moore didn't play her usual innocent and boring "good girl" role. But while she does deliver, don't expect anything fantastic. Of course Billy Crudup conveys his character beautifully.
Description of Dedication
Dedication is a modern love story in which a misanthropic, emotionally complex children's book author named Henry is forced to team up with a beautiful illustrator after his best friend and creative collaborator passes away. As Henry struggles with letting go of the ghosts of love and life, he discovers that sometimes you have to take a gamble at life to find love.At first glance, Justin Theroux's directorial debut looks like a romantic comedy, but it's really a character study. And misanthropic children's book author Henry (Billy Crudup, who worked with Theroux in Broadway's Three Sisters) is one heck of a character. For inspiration, he turns to the Japanese cult classic Gamera. When feeling stressed, he piles books on his prone chest. Henry has worked with illustrator Rudy (Tom Wilkinson, Crudup's Stage Beauty co-star) for 15 years when the unthinkable happens. Contractually obligated to produce another Marty the Beaver adventure, his agent (Bob Balaban) partners him with doctoral-candidate-turned-artist Lucy (Mandy Moore). While Henry mourns his only friend, Lucy nurses a broken heart--her mother/landlord (Dianne Wiest) has just evicted her and her boyfriend/thesis advisor (Martin Freeman) has just dumped her. It's discomfort at first sight, but feelings soften as these wounded personalities learn to work--and heal--together. You can see the conclusion coming from a mile away, and Moore's character is underwritten (David Bromberg penned the script), but Crudup makes what could be an indie film clich?--the New York neurotic--almost seem fresh. As for Theroux, a busy actor best known for his movies with David Lynch, like Mulholland Drive, the first-timer has a sharp eye for the arresting image and a discriminating ear for the evocative tune--the soundtrack includes music by alternative rock favorites Deerhoof, Cat Power, and Joanna Newsom. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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