Em: 2 of 5 stars
Tony Barbieri’s bland romantic drama Em is about two 20somethings who meet, mate, move in together only to discover that one of them is bipolar and this will never work out.
Josh (Nathan Wetherington) is quite taken with Amanda (Stef Willen), especially her directness. They meet over coffee, he suggests they go to his place, and they’re off. Or their clothes are.
He works in a bookstore. She’s an artist. But she’s a little impulsive. He might come home and find she has invited the neighborhood kids over to play video games.
Their fights come out of nowhere, she has a tendency to sleep for days at a time, and yet somehow he’s shocked when Amanda, “Em,” turns out to be suicidal and bipolar.
It’s a glum little movie without a lot of dialogue or incident. It’s a real trick, rendering something this heartbreaking into a movie this boring.
Screening at: 7 p.m. Saturday, March 28, Regal; 1:30 p.m. Friday, April 3, Enzian.
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