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Made Me Uncomfortable

Matthew Siebert | Fenton | 08/28/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"This is one of those movies one is either going to love or either going hate - no in between. As for me, I hated the movie. The only other movie that I would consider on a parallel plane as far as drama goes is Requiem for a Dream. I believe it necessary to review, at least in part, Requiem for a Dream in order to contrast it to Fling.

Before I begin the review I believe it necessary to state that the two situational contexts which I'm most emphatic about are as follows; situations which involve substance abuse or situations which involve human sexuality.

Requiem for a Dream seemed to be a classic example of bad situations gone worse; the acting was great and couldn't have better shown the dark reality of those addicted to or involved with drugs. While some saw Requiem as unnecessarily pessimistic, I saw it as a harsh reality.

Now for Fling, lets start off with the good. The atmosphere was superb, the acting was flawless, and had the drama was very intense. Now, before you dismiss my review as an unsubstantiated contradiction, let me explain what the bad (in my eyes) was.

Obviously, the movie was about open relations, hence the title. The issue that I have is that the plot (in my opinion) exemplifies the most pessimistic decisions the characters in the movie could possibly make. Every character in the movie is not only immature and selfish but also lacks any ability to contemplate the actions of their consequence or the capacity to take five seconds out out of their day to contemplate their future.

Essentially, I find it grossly offensive that most of the public is going to view this as an archetype for open relationships as oppose to its out of context atypical application in the real world. And yes, I know the point of the movie was to show the bad, dramatic side to open relations; I just feel they took it to an extreme, one which made me feel particularly uncomfortable."