Anyone who knows me knows I despise over the top, over-wrought drama and flavor causes of the moment so it was with great trepidation that I went to see the movie, You’re Not You starring Hillary Swank, Emmy Rossum and Josh Duhamel and directed by George C. Wolfe. Truth be told, the only reason I saw it was because of the fabulous Emmy Rossum who is one of my favorite actresses out there, PERIOD! So I sat down in the theater and was extremely pleasantly surprised. And not just because of the magnificent Emmy but because of all the actors, though the movie still was melodramatic at times.
The basic story is Hillary plays a young affluent woman named Kate who is stricken with ALS and Emmy’s character Becca plays her hot mess of an aide. Drifting through one job after another, musically talented but a coward when it comes to her musical career. And to no one’s surprise, they become close and learn from each other. And Josh Duhamel, in an EXTREMELY surprising performance, is the so-called picture perfect husband Evan. Sounds hokey right? Well this is where the biggest surprises for me came in. Instead of going for the cheap drama, or making the characters one-dimensional such as Josh’s Evan character, each one is portrayed in a very realistic multi-dimensional manner. For example Evan, in most other directorial hands, would have been the typical asshole and there would have been more manipulative drama during Kate’s hard times. Yet only one scene in the movie, did I shake my head at and it was during the baby scene where I felt it was over done. Not to say it was perfect because Kate was often portrayed too much as a disease and not a person, take of that what you will.
The acting throughout was superb, specifically Emmy Rossum as Becca, and Josh Duhamel, who gave a very subtle a layered performance. I give credit to the director too because even the smaller actors playing smaller parts, such as Ali Carter and Ed Begley Jr. were great. Those two really impressed the hell out of me in this film, with Ali showing amazing depth for what should have been a superficial role, and the always great Ed Begley Jr. being the uncle everyone wishes they had. Great job by both of them.
So while not my typical genre, I must say that I enjoyed this movie and was very very impressed by all involved. You’re Not You……Tearkerker done well.
Grades
Film – B
Directing – B+
Acting – A
