Here's a copy of my review from the "Foreign and Independent" forum:

I'm sad.

Ya, okay - the new Terry Zwigoff film is disappointing -- there, I said it.

The good news is that I laughed my ass off at the terrific art school set-up! Seriously - it's funny. But, by God, doesn't he squander that comic foundation on a meandering sub-plot. Oh well -- a bad Zwigoff film is a magnitude better than the average Hollywood offering. And, ya know, so what? His masterpiece remains the heartwarmingly cynical black Xmas comedy Bad Santa (or was it the mindblowing perfection of Crumb?)- that's okay - I'm willing to grant him freedom to experiment with his artistic gift. I wanna see his 5th, 6th, and 7th movies - actually, I'm hereby committing to paying to see them all.

Despite the fun of seeing John Malkovich in a current movie, and what with me being a perennial Jim Broadbent fan, not to mention having fallen for Sophia Myles in her recent Isolde role (let alone her criminally under-recognized and supersexy Lady Penelope (!) ) -- this whole enterprise folds early. Maybe Max Minghella is the next Scarlett Johansson - but is that a good thing? Who knows? I stopped caring at about the one hour mark of this 102 minute show.

3 out of 5. (2 out of 5 for the fans...)

Good movie, though a little rough on the edges. I'm considering writing a full review for this one, if time permits tomorrow.

B

I actually really, really liked. Like, a lot. I can understand why it's not getting good WOM or reviews though. It's essentially two different films with two completely different tones, and I can see that being difficult for a lot of people. I thought it worked perfectly, though. If you go in expecting a straight forward comedy, you're gonna be let down. Yeah, it has some extremely funny moments (pretty much the entire first half is constantly hilarious), but the second half is an extremely dark and arty murder mystery (bordering on downright noir at times) with almost no laughs to be found. The drastic tonal shift works because of Zwigoff's masterful direction and Clowe's fantastic script. Zwigoff's visuals are constantly beautiful, and he keeps the film moving along at a nice clip. Clowe's script is peppered with great dialogue and interesting characters.

So, yeah... the first half is a spot on satire of art school life with some of the funniest bits you'll see all year, and the second half is a dark and brooding murder mystery shot with an artistry I hadn't seen in Zwigoff's previous work. It also has a great statement on the fickleness of those whom declare what art is great and what art isn't. I really enjoyed it.

A

I agree with Makeshift on this one.

This was definetly an A film for me, for the same reason too.

Fun movie that is an odd mix of genres (murder-mystery, comedic drama) with good performances all around and sharp dialogue. Illustrates what seems to be becoming a trend in that the smaller films (This, Hard Candy, Brick) are far better than the more mainstream films these days.

Grade - A-

Glad to see you guy's enjoyed it.

Hopefully this one will pick up some good WOM.

Loved it, A -

Apparently I'm in the minority on this one. I didn't like it that much.

I did enjoy the conversations or themes when it focused on what is art - or what is good art. Like the one guy who was making simplistic drawings of a car and the teacher and class loved it, whereas the lead character was drawing picture perfect (but too by the book) and nobody really liked it.

That stuff was interesting, but the whole murder mystery thing was really not interesting to me, and I thought it was very unrealistic that this kid wouldn't suspect something when there is an actual driver's license and other artifacts on the painting itself, or that his desire to be famous was so great that he'd take the fall for it. That stuff just seemed out there, and really brought the movie down for me.

I'll give it a C-.

B+, a funny movie

It's wildly uneven, but still pretty enjoyable and likable.

Max Minghella's actually really good here, too. Fits pretty well into the Joseph Gordon-Levitt mold.

B-