Always Shine

I am starting to reach the bottom of my barrel in terms of content, and that is exactly where I want to be. Who the hell has even heard about Always Shine, let alone seen it? I am sure very few, if any of you. And that is where I want to be on my reviews.

I picked this movie to review because I knew one of the leads involved and liked her work. But I also liked how it was not even rated and barely released anywhere. Just a small town indie film that no one knows about, and a thriller at that.

There have been a lot of really good small budget thrillers with a small cast. They can do a whole lot with it. So even though I don’t get the title and expect nothing, I can still hope for the best.

Like every morning when I wake up in the middle of the forest. I hope for the best.

Always Shine is about two somewhat friends. They used to be super friends, but their friendship has waned. Beth (Caitlin FitzGerald) is an aspiring actress. She has been in some commercials before. She has been in a few B-Movies. She has an agent! And she is going to try to star in a new horror flick about rocks, but she will be the main female lead, a big step up for her.

Anna (Mackenzie Davis), is also an aspiring actress. But she doesn’t have commercials, she doesn’t have parts in films coming up, she has nothing. And damn it, she is a better actress than Beth. But her life sucks.

Despite their differences, they want to reconnect and have a getaway in the mountains, where the signal sucks, in a nice place owned by Anna’s family. Now they have to deal with each other, go out drinking and meeting people together, and get on each other’s nerves. In fact, Anna is basically starting to hate Beth, because Anna believes Beth is actively trying to crush Anna’s career before it can get started.

Things are not looking good for Beth.

Also starring Lawrence Michael Levine and Khan Baykal.

“It is called acting, bitch, and I’ve been in a movie with Zac Efron!”

I have seen Mackenzie Davis in only a handful of films, with only That Awkward Moment and Freaks of Nature having a major part. And honestly, I thought she did great and should be in more movies. I haven’t seen FitzGerald in anything.

Potential biases, Davis is definitely the stand out here, as she is the one pissed off, she is the one who has to carry the end of the movie, and she is just so damn intense. FitzGerald has to play a meek character, who has only one real decent scene on a panicked phone call to her boyfriend.

But a few good scenes does not make the movie. The entire final act is just slow and dreadful. It seems to serve no purpose. They play it out like a mystery, but I wasn’t sure which parts were supposed to be mysterious. And then it ends with the big obvious reveal, leaving me just annoyed at the previous half hour of movie.

Seriously, the ending is just so bad. It is supposed to be some sort of mental break down. But it is tame (and maybe realistic?) and makes for very unexciting film.

Also, I still have no damn clue what the title alludes to.