Cocaine. I think the "you" in the title is cocaine. Magnolia Pictures has passed along the red band trailer for the Mark Pellington-directed (Arlington Road, Henry Poole Is Here) I Melt With You. From the look of the trailer, the mid-life crisis ensemble drama is some kind of mash up of The Big Chill and Stag. Or Very Bad Things if you prefer Christian Slater to Mario Van Peebles. Either way, it's middle-class to rich white guys lamenting the dead ends of their lives in drug-o-vision, and I think I might have to sit this one out.
Alright, that's not even being close to fair--but there's something off-putting about the combination of the music and the cast of actors looking sad about growing older and the music attempting so very hard to get you to feel some emotion for the events on screen. Piven, in particular, is an actor I have a problem with in terms of getting a sincerity vibe off of him, and it feels like it might be a bit of a hurdle trying to buy him as having, you know, feelings.
Or you can ignore my crankiness and check out the trailer for yourself. Here's the official synopsis:
Richard (Thomas Jane), Ron (Jeremy Piven), Jonathan (Rob Lowe) and Tim (Christian McKay) are old college friends that gather annually for a week in Big Sur to celebrate their friendship and catch-up on each other's lives.They seem like typical men in their forties - all with careers, families, and enormous responsibilities - but like most people there is a lot more beneath the surface.As the week progresses, they go down the rabbit hole of excess as mountains of drugs are consumed to a blaring rock 'n' roll soundtrack. Parties with much younger women spin out of control. Exhausted and run ragged, they bare their souls to one another revealing the disillusionment with their lives. As the truth emerges, the reunion takes a much darker turn when a promise from their past is brought to light. From director Mark Pellington, I MELT WITH YOU is a visually dazzling, wild and wooly trip deep into the male psyche, driven by four amazingly committed and profound performances.
Sorry non-U.S. readers, but the trailer is region-locked by Hulu. As soon as it becomes available through another venue, we'll pass it along.