Mutual Appreciation

Goodbye Cruel Releasing | Release Date: September 1, 2006

6.1	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 27 Ratings

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ChadS.Apr 5, 2007

"Mutual Appreciation" never overstays its welcome, not when the writer/director has the uncanny knack of replicating how people really communicate with each other. They talk talk, not movie talk; the seemingly artless banter in "Mutual "Mutual Appreciation" never overstays its welcome, not when the writer/director has the uncanny knack of replicating how people really communicate with each other. They talk talk, not movie talk; the seemingly artless banter in "Mutual Appreciation" makes this no budget-film feel revolutionary, and its author, a maverick. These indie rock-informed post-grads have nothing in common with those nihilisitic tweens from Larry Clarke's "Kids", but both films convince you that the actors aren't reciting dialogue from a carefully worded script. Justin Rice, who plays Alan, the struggling artist(a Jonathan Richman-type informed by, perhaps, The Buzzcocks), and Rachel Clift, who plays Ellie(a plain Jane who grows more pulchritudinous before your very eyes with each passing scene) generate effortless good-will and exude more chemistry than any of those million-dollar actors that the studio-execs throw together in some banal romantic comedy. If Ellie followed her heart, she'd be with Alan, and not with his best friend, Lawrence(Andrew Bujalski, the New York-based writer/director who's more like Richard Linklater than Woody Allen), an equally nice guy with better career prospects, and most importantly, a job. Since "Mutual Appreciation" is about living in the moment, we never learn if Alan's music career will pan out, but if his knock-'em-dead, albeit poorly attended gig is any indication, Ellie should join The Bumblebees as a musician(she's already Alan's manager), and be a Claudia Gonson to his Stephin Merritt. Rice rocks with an indefatigable DIY spirit. "Mutual Appreciation" is a two-fisted, one-finger salute to both, corporate rock and Hollywood.… Expand