Wonderful character development!

That was an excellent one.

Sorry, this movie sucks

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

David (Jonathan Groff) takes a break from his ivy league world for an apple picking job. He's a spoiled, self-assured bookworm. His Mexican co-workers don't understand him. His boss Hobbs (Dean Stockwell) barely tolerates his lack of work ethics. Jon (Denis O'Hare) is handing out religious flyers titled COG. His friend Jennifer is suppose to join him but she leaves the job for a new boyfriend. Curly (Corey Stoll) drives the forklift at the apple plant. After an awkward night with Curly, he abandons his job, somebody steals his money, and he only has Jon to help. He stays with Martha (Casey Wilson) and her family. His atheism, his lack of a love life, his sexuality, and his attitude are all challenged.I think the story is meant to be quirky comical. However that is not the prevailing sense from director Kyle Patrick Alvarez. Groff's character is too much of an annoying know-it-all. After all, that is the character as written but it would be more effective if he does what he does because of clueless kindness. The one great character is played by Corey Stoll. He does a fun disturbing performance. It's too bad that he's only a supporting character, but he's a good one. This never got funny. Sometimes it got disturbing. It may have even gotten profound although that could argued either way. The ending is somewhat truncated which is problematic for some people. I'm not one of them. Movies don't have to be about resolving something. I just didn't get involved in David's journey.

"C.O.G." is the journey of one man based on the real life journey of writer David Sedaris. David (Jonathan Groff) is an academically-minded man in his twenties who has destroyed every relationship with his own arrogance. He's not entirely aware of it, as he thinks he's on a journey with his girlfriend after they read The Grapes of Wrath and decided to get back to nature. But really his ex-girlfriend had no such journey in mind.Now on his own, he's determined to be true to himself. This involves sharing his nihilistic, anti-religious views with anyone who dares to have a conversation with him, but not being totally open with his homosexuality.He finds himself working in an orchard which, as you can guess, involves people who have a relationship with God, people on the conservative side who don't get the gay culture, and people who don't like pedantic intellectuals teaching them about real literature. David doesn't fit in very well.I loved the first half of the film. The more he mocked religion, the more I loved it. But as David finds himself in trouble (due to not fitting in very well and due to his ability to destroy any relationship he has with his arrogance), the film starts taking on a different tune. One which seems to be the exact opposite of what drew people in in the first place. While it could just be that I didn't get whatever they were trying to say, the second half of the film seems to go against what people would have liked in the first half. Those that would like the messages in the ending probably would have been turned off by David's first anti- religious rant (which comes in the opening scene). And, to me, that would lead to a film with no audience remaining."C.O.G." stands for Child of God and you are going to have to have an extremely open mind to all points of view, both pro and anti organized religion and to sexual orientation, to enjoy this film. I appreciate Jonathan Groff taking on a character like this, but I have a feeling I wasn't supposed to have enjoyed his character as much as I did at the beginning as he moves too far away from that in the remainder of the film.

As written in the instruction, this story starts out with a college(?) student, with a lot going on in his head, heading to an apple farm. The overall images and colors used were beautiful (although there were no graphics). Plus, in someway, the movie powerfully overwhelmed the viewer's emotions. However, as for me, its main idea is nontransparent and irresponsible.First of all, it is hard to understand the director's main point. There are too many messages in this film. From its beginning till end, it is filled with new topics in constantly changing environment. It concerns problems like family, education, love, society, identity and religion, each and every of them very sensitive and emotionally powerful. I was soaked in by those and the main characters feelings. However, as I was about to concentrate on one on them, it moved on to another. Second, even though one can figure out the film's point, it does not take any responsibilities. It just leaves out everything in the open, and does not give a closure. Although I admit that there can be a method of letting the audience think, this movie makes them feel hollow. What I mean is that, what good are any messages if they do not mean anything? It would be as meaningless as someone who is blaming one's problems rather than suggesting a solution or at least trying to find one.

The instant I saw the boy from Glee on the screen with his college sweater, against a score of staccato claps, I knew this film and the word 'Pretentious' were already entwined till the credits with the muted plucking music.So as the Backlash B-tch I am, I decided to watch the whole film just to spite that particular stereotype.God, I'm glad I did! I was born in a religious cult...called C.O.G. So it's kind of unsurprising that I resonated with it. But this film has so much that is human, and raw, and true about it that it has to have some impact on the rest of you. Groff's performance goes from cocky and superior in the most honest portrayal of the usual American postgrad I've seen, to so vulnerable and naive and yearning that my heart felt like it was being crushed. He's as lost, disenfranchised and confused as every other 20-something I know - but it seeps out of his pores and swims in his eyes in a way that's very hard to watch. I guess that's the Millenial Generation, stripped bare and made fun of, yet not looked down on. David is just a boy, not a polarising symbol of a Lost Generation, and the film knows this.Just a boy. That's why it hurt to see him be taken advantage of, time and again. It hurt even more, for me, to watch him try to find himself and cure his sexual 'sickness' in religion. I have known people like John. They exist. Everyone in this film exists.I'm not being coherent. This film impacted me that much.I think you should watch it.