Overview
Mara and Jo are best friends. Mara is dependable and Jo is troubled; they met when they were 14 years old. Neither of their lives are stable, their jobs are precarious and their dates go nowhere, writing is something done on the side, like so often in Brooklyn. Amid the everyday events and chit-chat, the only constant is their friendship, or, rather, its dynamic: Mara’s phone will ring and Jo will need her help, Mara will drop everything for her, but Jo’s thoughts will already be elsewhere by the time she arrives. The plot skips forward delicately, alighting on another manifestation of the same pattern each time, though Jo’s troughs deepen and Mara’s resentment grows. Time passes and there are new jobs, new boyfriends, drugs, tears and fresh starts, a pregnancy and later a little girl, all of which steadily tug at Jo and Mara’s bond.
I had high hopes for this movie and I was really disappointed. I love indie movies and I have no problem being patient to get a reward later in a movie. This movie just never took off. I was never invested in the characters and at times it felt like we were just following them around through their mundane lives. I think the reviewer on RogerEbert.com said it best – this was supposed to be a slice-of-life movie and instead it felt like a dress rehearsal.
IHATEBadMovies.com reviews Fourteen
Movie title: Fourteen
Movie description: Mara and Jo are best friends. Mara is dependable and Jo is troubled; they met when they were 14 years old. Neither of their lives are stable, their jobs are precarious and their dates go nowhere, writing is something done on the side, like so often in Brooklyn. Amid the everyday events and chit-chat, the only constant is their friendship, or, rather, its dynamic: Mara’s phone will ring and Jo will need her help, Mara will drop everything for her, but Jo’s thoughts will already be elsewhere by the time she arrives. The plot skips forward delicately, alighting on another manifestation of the same pattern each time, though Jo’s troughs deepen and Mara’s resentment grows. Time passes and there are new jobs, new boyfriends, drugs, tears and fresh starts, a pregnancy and later a little girl, all of which steadily tug at Jo and Mara’s bond.
Date published: 2020-11-25
Director(s): Dan Sallitt
Actor(s): Tallie Medel, Norma Kuhling, Evan Davis, Willy McGee, Scott Friend, C. Mason Wells, Caroline Luft, Ben Sloane, Kolyn Brown, Dylan McCormick, Lorelei Romani, Strawn Bovee, Solya Spiegel, Aundrea Fares, Jesse Hochstadt, Keiko, Kyle Duke, Michael Wetherbee, John Sharples, Denise Gilliam, Ken Hunter, Pam Winters, Kyle McCormack, A.S. Hamrah, Vadim Rizov, Lydia Kavanagh, Caitlin Mae Burke, Eric Barroso, Jason Miller, Virginia Ahern
Genre: Drama
My Review
I had high hopes for this movie and I was really disappointed. I love indie movies and I have no problem being patient to get a reward later in a movie. This movie just never took off. I was never invested in the characters and at times it felt like we were just following them around through their mundane lives. I think the reviewer on RogerEbert.com said it best – this was supposed to be a slice-of-life movie and instead it felt like a dress rehearsal.
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My Review - 5/10
5/10