Fantastic!

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

On the up-side, this flick was presented in an interesting way that came across as original and real-the story, the cast, the acting, the filming, all of these were stand-up and captured one's interest. On the down-side, the soundtrack was a torturous let-down; it was such a distraction and so painful that I found myself skipping thru the scenes where the music was featured, not even caring if I missed any important dialogue that might be there and bringing an otherwise solid 8-star rating down to 6.

a rather thin story line.For a first film by Demetri Martin he scores high marks from me! The film is a delight to see with plenty of well thought out cinematography. But the plot is a bit thin as we realize from the beginning Dean has issues with his father and expressing himself over the death of his mother. Somewhere in the story these these two problems will come out.The sub-story of Dean the NYC native feeling very out of place in L.A. is told refreshingly well. We've seen this topic before but Martin succeeds in making it feel new and original."Dean" is a film not to be missed by cinema lovers!

Dimitri Martin writes, directs, and stars here as Dean, who is an illustrator and writer trying to cope with the recent loss of his mother. He's also struggling in his relationship with his father Robert (Kevin Kline), who is also finding his own ways of grieving his loss. With work on his next book blocked by his sadness, Dean decides to travel from Brooklyn to Los Angeles to meet with a dot.com ad agency who have expressed interest in his drawings. While there, Dean will hook up with some old friends like Eric (Rory Scovel) and Becca (Briga Heelan), as well as meeting a new woman Nicky (Gillian Jacobs).I thought the scenes with his friends and Nicky worked well and were often heartfelt and humorous. However, other parts of this movie seemed awkward and flat, so a mixed bag overall.All in all, I thought this rather quirky and oddball dramedy, employing lots of deadpan humor, was only partially successful.

Seen at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival. Written and directed by Demitri Martin, with a nice role for Kevin Kline. A nice mixture of laugh-out-loud humor, but also a surprising melancholy pervades throughout the film. Martin's very clever drawings take a central role in the movie, too. This is a story that isn't new or groundbreaking, but Martin infuses it with his own wit and wisdom, and the results are a very enjoyable and thoughtful first feature. Highly recommended.