Results
Directed by Andrew Bujalski
Starring Cobie Smulders, Guy Pearce, Kevin Corrigan, Giovanni Ribisi and Brooklyn Decker
Two mismatched personal trainers' lives are upended by the actions of a new, wealthy client.
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Reviews
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★★★½ review by Eli Hayes on Letterboxd
A: "I love you."
* * * * * * * * * *
B: "I love you too."
. . .
A: *sighs in frustration*
That truly has to be one of my
favorite "love you" exchanges in any film. -
★★★½ review by Filipe Furtado on Letterboxd
Most Bujalski's films operate under the idea of set up a millieu and cartography multiple ways people avoiding colliding while this one inverts such idea and is all about doing the same so people can just bump off into each other. Which is good because he was getting stale and rather oppressive in his last two films. This seems to be getting a lot of condencending positive reviews that single out its supposedly conventional qualities, which is weird because despite been in essence a rather old school romantic comedy (it is literally about moving pieces around so two people can say "I love you"), Results relationship towards genre are so old fashionable to be unrecognizable in current multiplexes. Far from limiting, they are rather liberating and allow Bujalski to go beyond just setup a nice window for his admitly very sharp observational eye. Also worth mentioning is that Pearce and Corrigan are a good 15-20 years older than his usual post grad leads which also takes him off his comfort zone in many intriguing ways.
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★★★½ review by sydney on Letterboxd
FEAR
EXCUSES
SURRENDER -
★★★½ review by Vadim Rizov on Letterboxd
"I’ve been making movies for 15 years. I love those movies. I’m so, so grateful that I got to do them. And frankly, if I get the opportunity again in life, I would love to scurry back to making strange and obscure things. I mean, Results may well be strange and obscure, but it’s my best effort to make something that can exist in the marketplace. Certainly making movies that I’d spend three or four years on and earn four figures for was so rewarding in so many ways, but there were some compelling reasons to see what it would be like to not do it that way."
This is my fourth (!) interview with Bujalski. I'm getting better at it. Lot of Austin chat in there if that's an incentive. (There's also a review I wrote after second viewing in the next Sight & Sound).
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★★★½ review by Blain LaMotta on Letterboxd
Results is a drastic step down from Andrew Bujalski's previous effort, the peculiar and masterful Computer Chess. That still doesn't diminish the pleasures of this decidedly more conventional effort about personal trainers and their clientele. Conventional by his standards mind you. The film is loosely plotted with a specific focus on character detail. A romantic comedy of eccentricities that envelops the viewer in suppressed emotion and insecurities. These people may seem confident and sure of their direction on a surface level, but they are just as damaged and lost as the rest of us the further they are explored. A few contrivances attempt to soil the fun at times, and Bujalski takes his sweet time getting to the point of the matter, yet it is all for the greater good of getting into the minutiae and contradictions of his characters. Guy Pearce gets to act in his native accent and manages to craft a character who is ridiculously positive, at least until his cracks show and his failure of meaningful connection with others takes center stage. Cobie Smulders exudes a sexiness that hides a deep rage within and her scenes with Pearce causes intense friction and unspoken love to boil. Kevin Corrigan steals the show however. Lonely, rich, and out of shape, he forms a bond with both Pearce and Smulders' characters as they slowly bring out the best and worst of each other in sometimes surprising fashion. You can do your best to create a facade of ideal perfection for others to see, but if you don't reach out and accept the messiness of life and put yourself out there, you will end up unfulfilled in the ways that count.
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