Social Animals

An American comedy. A story about a down-on-her-luck woman who meets fellow lovable loser and they form an instant connection, but there's just one problem - he is married. The main theme is the complexity of modern relationships and the attempts to muddle through. The story is mainly outlandish situations. What makes it work are the performances which are attractive. The film tends to plod on from one situation to another with some good laughs but without a definite throughline.

The main character , Zoe, is, literally, a generic version of Zoe Deschanel. Like the director couldn't get Zoey Deschanel so decided to go with the dupe version. The overall actinng of cast was cringe worthy and it's a bloody shame to see Josh Radnor, even if with a believable-ish performance, in such a bad movie. I feel like the positive reviews could only be written by Theresa Bennett herself because that's the only explanation for having any,

I thought that I am watching TV show, and tried to find second episode after i finished it... I love acters, love idea, love everything, but there is no big plots and the whole movie is really to short, because of putely written story it's a 6.

Social Animals is a depressing, sort of pseudo comedy that features a borderline, unlikable lead in Zoe (played by San Antonio, Texas native, Noel Wells). As far as new releases go in 2018, "Animals" is like Reality Bites, Richard Linklater's Slacker, and 1998's Your Friends & Neighbors being melded in a cinematic blender. Note to the rebelling filmmakers of Social Animals: Jeanne Garofalo called and wants her undisguised promiscuity back. Also, Jason Patric phoned and wants his sobering masculinity brought back into fruition too. Finally, don't include a fellatio scene with a cucumber just for kicks. It utterly feels like witless filler. Anyway, the flick dons effective use of Austin, Texas locales and a whiff of the city's legendary music scene. However, "Animals" makes you want to avoid certain parts of that freewheeling borough in the long run. In veracity, words like uneven, honest, tiredly manipulative, and doleful are what I'd use to describe Social Animals. Director Theresa Bennett (this is her feature film debut) crams several, daft relationship stories into ninety minutes but her main focus is on sad sack Zoe (mentioned earlier). Zoe is a woman who is late on her rent, lives in an RV, and owns an unsuccessful waxing outlet. She's single, almost broke, and smokes pot whenever an average occasion arises. Zoe out of boredom or sheer desperation, befriends a friendly, loser married guy and has an affair with him. "Animals" despite its decent performances and its effectively rundown, suburban inhabiting, never fully finds a coherent tone. With its Gen X careening, its woe is me dialogue, and its need to include animated illustrations of sexual innuendo, Social Animals might have been germane say, fifteen years ago. Oh and one more thing, what does the title of this movie mean anyway? My rating: 2 stars.

SPOILER: This movie would have made a lot more sense if they would have just removed the kids from the main couple. I was actually surprised when they showed the kids, and it turned out they belonged to the main couple. I thought they were just babysitting or something, at first, because this couple behaved like they were wishy-washy insecure middle schoolers. These kids are now messed up for life because their parents are selfish weaklings, but somehow this movie tries to play itself off as a lighthearted comedy? Oh wait, I forgot, it's the governments job to raise children, and to educate them....they'll be fine.

Theresa Bennett speaks on behalf of all us misanthropic millennial's who are just trying to figure out what the * we're doing with our lives and what happy looks like. She unapologetically peppers in her own experiences to lend the vulnerability we've come to expect from her writing. As much as I love her dialogue and story-telling, it's her directorial debut that really shines here, creating an intimacy between audience and characters that feels as close as two long-time friends swapping weekend-recaps over Sunday brunch.

The level of pessimism in this movie is likely to turn many people off. It basically boils down to a film for people who's lives didn't turn out that great and how that is just life. This viewpoint is helpful for those who are in the situation, but for anyone who does have a good job or relationship it just seems a bit snarky. It comes down to whether your philosophy is one of live and let live or if you think there is actually a good way to live your life and a bad one. There are some funny scenes and the acting is all pretty decent. Overall whether or not you like this movie will come down to the tone, if you like the pessimistic but accepting of the negative outlook that this movie has it isn't half bad, although the ending might put off those people who are fans of real life situations where nothing is resolved.