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Laramie Movie Scope: Results

A trio of wacky, but loveable characters

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by Robert Roten, Film Critic
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December 30, 2015 -- This is one of those romantic comedies with a meandering plot and offbeat characters who don't seem to know what they are doing most of the time. By the end of the film, these wacky, drunk, stoner characters grew on me. They are rough around the edges, and sometimes obnoxious, but loveable.

The main character, Trevor (played by Guy Pearce of “Iron Man 3”) owns a workout gym in Texas, Power4Life, Kat (Cobie Smulders of the “Avengers” movies) works at Power4Life as a personal trainer, and her unhappy multimillionaire client, Danny (Kevin Corrigan of “The Departed”). Danny comes in to the gym wanting to get in shape. Trevor assigns a trainer for Danny. Immediately, there is a big argument. Kat wants Danny for her client. Trevor doesn't want Kat training Danny. But Kat gets her way.

That's the first clue that the relationship between Trevor and Kat is not what it seems to be. The second clue is when Kat decides to kiss Danny, then dumps him as a client (costing Power4Life thousands of dollars) when Danny becomes interested in her romantically. Trevor immediately becomes jealous and confronts Danny, threatening him. Despite that, Danny and Trevor become friends, and even become business partners when Trevor decides to expand his business.

Kat is not what you'd call an ideal employee. She can be very confrontational with her clients, and her boss. She is mercurial, changing moods in an instant from friendly to angry. Her people skills are iffy, at best. But it is clear that Trevor will stick by her, whatever she does, as long as she sticks around.

Suddenly, Kat decides to quit her job, just as Trevor is expanding the business. Trevor tells her that if she walks out his door, they are through. She walks, but that is not the end of it. When Danny finds out that Trevor and Kat once had an affair, he gets angry and makes a very rash business decision. It seems crazy at first, but it turns out that Danny knows what he is doing. It turns out that despite all their bumbling, social awkwardness and flareups, these three people really care about each other.

There is a very strange business trip made by Trevor to meet another fitness guru, Grigory (played, of all people, by Anthony Michael Hall of “Foxcatcher”). Kat shows up for the meeting with Grigory and his wife and turns a strange conversation into an even stranger one. Trevor has a kind of New Age fitness philosophy which includes spiritual values. Kat thinks this is nonsense, but she tells Trevor that his philosophy works for him, because he believes it.

On their way back home, Danny's strange business plan finally works as intended, which is strange, and funny, because most of his other plans are disastrous. Finally, Danny, Kat and Trevor take each other's advice about relationships and get together for a big party at Danny's house, along with Danny's lawyer (and drug dealer) Paul (Giovanni Ribisi of “Avatar”).

Despite the fact that I had seen most of these actors numerous time before, Pearce, Smulders, Ribisi and Hall, the only one I recognized was Pearce. The rest looked different to me for various reasons. These actors are not known for comedy, but they all do a fine job in this offbeat romantic comedy. The story seems to wander a lot, but it works. These characters all grew on me and they are memorable. This film rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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Copyright © 2015 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.
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Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at my last name at lariat dot org. [Mailer button: image of letter and envelope]

(If you e-mail me with a question about this or any other movie or review, please mention the name of the movie you are asking the question about, otherwise I may have no way of knowing which film you are referring to)