Collide

Ryan Phillippe more or less reliably speaks his lines aloud in this bizarre, inexplicable production. This film ambitiously attempts to meld a desperately stretched social justice revenge flick with an absolutely nonsensical drug heist crime flick, applying all the formidable knowledge and experience of a high school film class to the endeavor. Jim Gaffigan was apparently lost in the vicinity while they were shooting. The resulting "thriller" is nearly unwatchable as such, eschewing traditional notions of pace and tone in favor of a straightforward series of scenes, presented neatly and entirely devoid of emotional substance. There are brief moments where it nearly finds comedic legs, awkwardly lurching through through the stilted dialogue, but the tragic absence of subtlety looming over the film makes it all too clear - they never meant for it to be funny.

There are so many things I disliked about this film that I don't have the time or mental capacity after watching it to write them all here. So, I will simply say the motion sickness induced by the camera movement throughout the entire film is a devastating offense to the art of cinematography. Watching this movie is both a figurative and a literal sickening experience. The storylines did not mesh well. Lastly, all potential displays of expert acting were overshadowed by the aforementioned poor cinematography and incoherent storyline. I recommend steering clear of this film. You can't get the wasted time back.

"Collide" serves as the title of the movie and the restaurant in which the story takes place. It's actually three separate stories bobbing and weaving throughout, none of which appear to be headed for a happy ending. Of the three, the tale of Zee (Dylan Flashner) and Lily (Aisha Dee) was the most pathetic, you knew they were destined for disaster right from the start. I like Jim Gaffigan as a stand-up comedian, so seeing him here goes completely against type as he contemplates suicide over a crumbling marriage. It's made even worse when a private investigator hands him a tape of his wife having an affair with Collide's manager, while he observes them in real time through the window of the restaurant. The third couple engages in a bizarre scenario in which Tamira (Kat Graham) and Hunter (Ryan Phillippe) meet on a blind date, and she grills him over the past transgressions of his racist father during South Africa's apartheid, during which he played an active part as a teenager. Though that's not as weird as the bomb she has placed under his chair, set on a timer to deactivate if he makes it through their conversation. All the while you wonder if the bomb is real or whether Hunter will try to call the woman's bluff, but the point becomes moot when Zee's older brother, fresh out of prison, arrives just as Zee's drug deal is about to go bust. The chaos that ensues captures all the players in one way or another with unexpected outcomes, except of course for the poor guy in the chair that fell over. But by that time, I'm pretty sure he was already gone.

I so wanted to like this movie. I love Jim Gaffigan and I wanted to see him in a more serious role versus stand-up comedy. I don't know who's idea it was to ever think that jerky handheld cameras was edgy. It is annoying as all get out. This nonsense needs to stop. Rather than focusing on the characters in the story line, I was completely distracted throughout the whole movie by this herky jerky movements. So now I'm at the end of my review but thanks to this stupid, stupid, stupid requirement of 600 characters I'm now going to just ramble on and on which is an utter waste of my time and you the readers. You can stop reading now.

We couldn't get past the bobbing camera and the constant zooming in and out. I'm suprised Ryan signed up for what felt like an armature film like this. If the cinematography was supposed to be catchy it backfired big time! We couldn't get past the bobbing camera and the constant zooming in and out. I'm suprised Ryan signed up for what felt like an armature film like this. If the cinematography was supposed to be catchy it backfired big time! We couldn't get past the bobbing camera and the constant zooming in and out. I'm suprised Ryan signed up for what felt like an armature film like this. If the cinematography was supposed to be catchy it backfired big time!

Stellar Cast, yet unfortunate poor filming. Constant camera movement headache and distracts from actors natural talent. Shame, was really looking forward to film and plot development. Wish film had been created with alternate or classic "steady camera". Lighting not balanced, dining area may have dimmed lights for atmosphere, yet kitchen/cooler would absolutely not be dark. I would watch again if set design/lighting, and camera crew filming were scrubbed with a fresh approach. Too much intertwined from start of characters development. Reboot with better balance of set design, light & direction.

I tried to finish this but I really don't want to waste the next 17 mins it would take to get to the end. To be honest I just don't care about any of the story lines or people. I like the actors but feel like I'm watching community theater with a hand held camera. Just bad writing I think is the problem? I've seen stories of affairs, oppression, and drug heists and this feels like maybe the film club at high school got the chance to write a script and someone filmed it. Not sure why Gaffegan or Phillipe took on these roles. The gal who plays Tamira is hard to watch. Back to Hulu search on a Friday night.

Wife and I were convinced to watch it when it had an 8.2 rating on IMDB, and the plot sounded a decent. We could not make it more than 20 minutes through it. The characters, acting, pacing and bizarre use of a shakey cam all contributed to our confusion. It felt like a first draft that was accidentally released.