A Case of You (2013)

“How ’bout this? Visualize writing her a message but then literally do it right now.” – Eliot

Number of Times Seen – 1 (24 Nov 2013)

Brief Synopsis – A young man who lied about himself to date the girl of his dreams, must keep telling new lies when she starts to like him back.

My Take on it – This is the kind of gem that I love to come across.  Here is a movie that I knew nothing about before viewing it and truly loved it and felt for the characters and their predicaments.

Justin Long wrote this screenplay with friend Keir O’Donnell (who plays Eliot in this film) and they managed to write these characters and situations so well, that I truly felt that I had known them for years and could possibly be friends with them when I was their age.

The dialogue is at times poignant, at times heart-warming and at time absolutely hilarious.  They found a great way of balancing all the situations together to make it seem realistic enough.

Long’s character Sam is a somewhat burnt out writer who is very rigid and stable in his life and routines and tries to remain in his comfort zone as much as possible.

The girl of Sam’s dreams is Birdie (played extremely well by Even Rachel Wood) and we can instantly understand why Sam would fall in love with her.  She is a free spirit who goes where the wind takes her in life and always does what feels best for her, but is a caring and loving individual.

Basically, they are extreme opposites and as the saying goes; opposites attract.  What’s interesting is that Sam doesn’t realize it and tries to be as much like Birdie as possible which brings him deeper and deeper into his predicament of lies.

There are many great supporting characters here and they are mostly played by famous actors, so I guess a lot of people knew that this script had so much potential.  Vince Vaughn, Peter Dinklage, Sam Rockwell, Brendan Fraser, Sienna Miller, Busy Phillips and even Peter Billingsley (who rarely makes appearances in front of the camera, but will always be Ralphie in A Christmas Story (1983) to me) are all hilarious here in the respective but small roles.

All I can say is that I hope Justin Long keeps writing movies like this one which I can feel speak to me.

Bottom Line – Great rom-com.  Brings a new flavor to the age-old idea of telling lies when trying to court a woman. Justin Long has a great career ahead of him if he keeps writing like this.  Highly Recommended!

Rating – Oscar Worthy