Posted by Scott in Review, Sundance 2009 | 2 comments
Sundance Review: ‘Peter and Vandy’
‘Peter and Vandy’ was on my list of must see movies at Sundance, and I am happy to report that it DID live up to the hype that I created for it.
This movie reminded me a lot of another flick here at Sundance ’500 Days of Summer’, but I might have enjoyed this one more than that. It isn’t nearly as flashy as the above mentioned movie, however what it lacks in flash it makes up for in the extraordinary story telling that Jay DiPietro was able to translate to the big screen.
On the surface the movie is your typical love story, boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love. The thing that I enjoyed most about the whole thing is that the story isn’t told from beginning to end, it jumps around. It shows you what you think might be the ending at first, then evolves it in pieces. Jay DiPietro doesn’t treat the viewer like an idiot and spell out the entire thing for you, he trusts that you are smart enough to put it all together yourself and this is where ‘Peter and Vandy’ will trump ’500 Days of Summer’.
Peter (Jason Ritter) is a “nice guy” that stumbles upon a girl named Vandy (Jess Weixler) while eating his lunch one day on a bench in New York. After blowing it his first conversation with her, he makes another go at it a few days later and they strike out on a fresh romance.
I have heard some pretty negative things about this movie and honestly they must all be idiots because this movie is fantastic. Jay DiPietro created something he can really be proud of, and I just hope that it gets the chance to be shown in the mainstream.
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5
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- Scott blogs Sundance Film Festival 2009: Day 8 | We Are Movie Geeks - [...] that I hung around HQ, grabbed some breakfast from Squatters, and then watched ‘Peter and Vandy‘ with Neil from ...
I went to see this flick after hearing some people at the table next to mine at breakfast. I certainly wasn’t disappointed in the least. Not high budget, not hig glitz, but definitely high quality story-telling. One of those movies where you know what the outcome is, but the road to the outcome is totally captivating. The acting was superb, Jason Ritter will rise to be a super character actor, and Jess Weixler is a future super star. Everything that could be done right WAS don right by DiPietro and his crew.
The fun thing about Sundance is that you actually get to see and hear the film makers. You see them around town at events, and you get to make eye contact, nod and say, “I loved your film,” and not feel all atalkerish about it. I got to see DiPietro and his cronies at one of the parties, and if I could choose a bunch of the “cool kids” to hang out with, it looked like that happy and smiling bunch would be my choice.