moviepowerratings Acting/Cast: PR: Solid - 65 - The cast is well put together and has both established stars (Kinnear, Connelly, Bell) and upcoming and hopfeul players (Collins, Wolff, Lerman). All fit their roles and play their parts well, but there is no standout performances here and it is about what you would expect from this crew.Directing/Production: PR: Average - 55 - There is nothing but average directing and production in this film. It has some slow spots and really doesn't have any strong spots that would make it anything but average. The cinematography of beach is nice and fitting for the movie and theme, but that is the one thing that sticks out to me most.Story: PR: Average - 50 - A father, his ex-wife, and their children are all in pivotal relationship stages in their lives and have the passion for writing in common (outside of the ex-wife). While all their stories and relationships are different and unique, they all are ultimately predictable. The main plot here is nothing new and very average overall.Entertainment Value: PR: Average - 55 - I found myself entertained, but not to the point of not getting sidetracked or even being able to step away for a few minutes and not feeling that I missed much. Was an okay watch, but don't expect I will watch again in the future.Power Rating: 56.25

isabeladiazgardini This is one of my favorite movies, I don't know if it's for the characters or the cast (which is amazing) or the atmosphere or the soundtrack or the story line, maybe it's all of it. This movie is great, because of the depth of the characters and the plot itself, is realistic and manages to make you feel touched by it. I just love this movie so much.

ginnynnig I really liked this movie, I watched it many times, once at the theatre then at home. I loved the soundtrack, I loved the mood, and all the characters especially Rusty. I can totally relate with lots that happen. The mother reminds me too much of my mama (she's also Sarah from labyrinth) and the father of my papa too. I wish they spoke English and were able to watch it. Anyways, I loved the fact that Samantha is scared of being in a relationship and cries a river after he makes her listen to Elliot Smith's Between the Bars, that became one of my favorite songs after that. The house by the beach is a freaking dream.More please.

jos25 From the first scene, I was distracted by what I perceived to be Lily Colin's contrived acting.... It strongly appeared to me that she was "ACTING," regurgitating memorized lines with fake flare.... This distracted me the whole movie! The girl is beautiful, and looks like she could be Jennifer Garner's daughter, but other than that, I just found her poorly-cast. (And judging from the other ratings, I am very alone in this opinion. But I had to speak up!) Lily's swinging between, "I'm the surly, angry teenage," to a super-smily flirty girl, to surly-angry again, to "I'm so happy, yippee, we're all together again!" was just so unbelievable to me that it clouded the whole movie. Many scenes, in fact, were unbelievable and unrealistic to me. (I mean, why would a whole family, especially one that was broken from divorce, dart out together, in one car, from the daughter's book-publishing party, just because the son couldn't find his girlfriend? If anything, just one or two of them would leave. Or they'd leave in separate cars.The whole scene was like fake drama to me.) The one person who made the movie for me (other than the wonderfully cast Greg Kinnear) was Kristen Bell's housewife character, "Tricia." Kristen was funny and believable as Tricia, and had heart. I thought Greg Kinnear performed his role 100% convincingly. But the dialogue made no sense. He tells his high school son to go out and have experiences, but then complains when the son begins partying and finds a druggie girlfriend. What else does a father expect, when he encourages a teenage son to 'get out there'? These people seemed to have average intelligence (or, vapidity combined with pretentiousness, in Lily Collins's character), and they just didn't come across as whip-smart enough, or wordsmithy enough, to be writers. Too many characters, such as the girlfriend Kate, or even Lily, seemed unrelatable or undeserving of our empathy. Even the mother, a central character, has practically no personality to the viewers, until a 5-minute scene near the end, when we learn a little about her and begin empathizing with her. I don't mean to sound harsh but someone had to write in to average down the confusingly high IMDb ratings here. I totally rely on these ratings for movie night, and I don't find myself to be picky with movies, but more and more, I am finding some of these IMDb ratings so skewed, that I will need to start chiming in for democracy's sake!! Truth is, I'd probably give this movie a 5 or 6 for its intrigue factor, and its heart at the end. It, despite all its flaws, is somewhat thought- provoking. But I have to give it a 2 or 3 just to weigh down the ridiculously high 7.3 average here on IMDb.