Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Thoughts on Two Lovers? I've got to say, I was a bit disappointed. It's pretty good and there's nothing actually bad about it, but it's all a little too safe and it's all a little too predictable. At no point are any of the turns in the story surprising. On one hand the characters and dramatic moments do ring true (even the ending, which may not be what we want because it's pretty depressing in its implications but rings true to the lead character), but it just lacks a certain bite that a film like this needed to have. However, it's still an interesting film and Joaquin Phoenix and Gwyneth Paltrow are very good with the material they are given, particularly the former.

This movie is so great that it gets into my nerves. The platitudes of ordinary un-fancy people's romantic triangle in a lowbrow and diversified community in a cosmopolis seems to be so decrepit that we can name at least three different ways to deliver the story successfully but uneventfully:one with a bit of crime scenes and intergenerational vendetta; some with razor-sharp witticism in flirtatious conversations and some with troubled souls suffering varied mental illness like autism but eventually crush into just the right person that appreciate the beauty of the schizophrenic. James Gray dare to present us a pure love story, with damn certitude of the solidity of the performances, successfully created a marvel: use the simplest or even somewhat weak story to make the most beautifully genuine movie. Without Joaquin Phoenix's impeccable and almost celestial performances, the story will easily crush into banal derelict, but when the seemingly everyday storyline carried out by the most powerfully telegraphic performances, the power can be escalated to another extremity. IMO two lovers can easily overshadow a galaxy of widely acclaimed romantic movies by woody Allen.The soundtrack is impressive, when Leonard and Sandra first met in his boyhood room, the Spanish guitar's gentleness and inebriating sweetness easily drafted the audience into Leonard's heart. Interestingly, the same Spanish guitar was playing when he met Michelle in the middle of her crisis, two parallel woman tread on his heart gently and off- gaurdly. Every details depicted is romantically photographed and carefully calculated to make sure that every character has multiple layered personalities that can instantly connected by the audience. All the characters are in a way familiar with us and every move and gestures they made in the movie seem genuine to us. Leonard's awkwardness and his stilted efforts to look relaxed in a fancy restaurant and indisguisable happy smile after his first sex with Michelle, his faint but existing interest in Sandra, his uproarious and self-detonating love for Michelle, a girl apparently out of his league but daintily vulnerable with mesmerizing gravitas. The bursting eager to go away with Michelle that he can barely tear off the tape on the champagne case, the way he quietly take his coat and leave the tumultuous house full of celebrating crowd with agility and sky-high ecstasy. The dialogue can also easily divulge Leonard's heart, when Sandra sent him a pair of mitten, his response was straight, cruelly polite and collegial, its beyond reproach with some level of intimacy, but definitely not the kind of tone you'd expect from a obsessed lover. We can sense Sandra's tentativeness and despondency on her face, she's subconsciously aware of the fact that Leonard is not into her but shes constant trying. Her affection for Leonard is more of a maternal warmth, as a sharp contrast to Leonard's for Michelle, a flaming pursuit with unconditional gentleness and galvanized inspiration. He doesn't long for other's care, he wants to take care of Mitchelle, that's the plain hard fact existing in all urban lover triangle. This whole movie is totally a pretension-free,plus we get to see the Great Joaquin Phoenix' moves on a dance floor. What can't he do seriously, he can sing steady like a train and sharp like a razor and dance like he owns the place. Two lovers cannot go wrong simply because of Joaquin.

There is absolutely no one to root for in this film, not even the girl who is supposedly in love with suicidal Leonard. You have to wonder what in the world is wrong with her to put up with the treatment that results from the senseless pickle her boyfriend has gotten himself into. It's frustrating to watch a film in which depression, stupidity, and ignorance are treated with so little insight. I walked away from the movie thinking that all the characters deserved a swift kick in the pants. Pathetic people behaving badly does not an artful film make. And there is not a funny or witty line uttered. Oh, there was one moment of sense in the film, although I am sure we were supposed to snicker cynically when the good girlfriend says she likes movies and Leonard asks her to name one; she says, "The Sound of Music." Too bad she didn't go watch it instead of taking up with loser Leonard.

I wanted to add another review here because I feel those praising the film don't do it justice. Two Lovers is a beautiful film. It's also a strange film that defies description. It is very different from Gray's earlier films, sharing with them only a tone of drab realism. It is painfully awkward at times, flitting between a pervading melancholy and a doomed hopefulness. But it is also touching, fragile and utterly captivating.I have just re-watched Two Lovers after seeing The Master and being reminded how wonderful Joaquin Phoenix is. I think it is fair to say he is the outstanding actor of his generation. He has that strange awkward power and charisma that the younger De Niro had in his greatest performances, you can barely watch but can't take your eyes off him. He and Gray have a truly rare chemistry and in Two Lovers both are at the very top of their game.Gwyneth Paltrow is superb as well. Her character could easily have been overplayed but she gets it just right, balancing the pain of emotional manipulation with an impossible combination of resilience and resignation.In many ways the plot of the film is far fetched but there is something about it that feels profoundly true. It's hard to say exactly what that is but that's what makes it so perfectly beautiful.