Mark Pellington's "I Melt With You" may be the single biggest disappointment of the Sundance Film Festival.
As a big fan of Pellington's earlier films such as "The Mothman Prophecies" and "Arlington Road," I probably had greater expectations than most, but regardless of my high hopes, "I Melt With You" is a cinematic calamity from its open frames. And the worst part is that my name is in it -- more or less -- as one of the main characters references a "Jeff Schneider." Oy!
Thomas Jane, Rob Lowe, Jeremy Piven and Christian McKay ("Me & Orson Welles") star as four friends who spend a week in Big Sur reliving their high school glory days and reflecting on how those days have long since passed.
I wasn't exactly expecting likable characters, but boy are these guys a piece of work.
Jane is a failed novelist (aside from one two-week stint on the New York Times best-seller list) who now teaches high school English and snorts cocaine as if Jane were still in "Boogie Nights" mode.
Lowe is a divorced doctor and possible rapist who deals pills to patients like a character out of a Bret Easton Ellis novel and can't get his own kid to call him "Daddy."
Piven is a family man wanted by the SEC for being both greedy and stupid.
McKay lives with the guilt of having killed his sister and her boyfriend … somehow … plus he's not 100% straight, which in this movie means he's obviously suicidal.
Except there's more to it than that. A lot more. The dirty little secret of "I Melt With You" is that it's basically about a death pact that's enforceability is directly related to the happiness of the overall group -- and they're all miserable. Each seems to be at their happiest during their annual get-togethers, but even then, they hide secrets and personal animosities from each other.
Arielle Kebbell and Piven's "Entourage" co-star Sasha Grey appear briefly as a couple of partygoers, with Grey (in case you're wondering, yes, she takes her top off) sort of serving as the impetus for the transformation of the group (via self-reflection) and the pact's initiation.
Another "Entourage" alum, Carla Gugino, plays an integral role as a suspiciously weapon-less local cop set on playing a paranoid hunch.
As far as the performances are concerned, all the actors are fine, with Piven escaping from the mess the best.
While Pellington has a great eye and knows how to direct actors, the knock on him is that he isn't great at development, and there's no doubt that Glenn Porter's script needed more fine-tuning.
Pellington is a very visual filmmaker who made his name directing music videos, yet while I don't necessarily mind his frenetic flourishes and constant filter-changes, "I Melt With You" doesn't exactly cry out for the "Requiem For a Dream" treatment.
