DVD Review – The Pretty One (2013)

“When eccentric and insecure young woman (Kazan) is mistaken for her identical twin, after a traumatic car accident, she seizes the opportunity to leave behind her pathetic existence and assume her sisters life. Through the masquerade as “the pretty one” she finally learns to value her own identity.”

The film has a good premise, it just doesn’t seem to execute it very well. Maybe its to do with the story, or maybe its to do with Kazan herself. Either way, the film didn’t really get enjoyable until around half way through, then went through the popular, used, tired tropes that most films seem to go through.

It’s the story of a pair of twins. Both of whom were shaped by their mother passing. Both of them are fairly different, and when their mother passed, they both went in very different directions. One stays at home, looked after her father, whilst the other left the town, and became her own woman. The sister left at home is often compared to her sister, and after the accident happens, and no one wants to say any words for her, it pushes her over the edge. Feeling betrayed by her father and the people around her, making her leave, and carry on the façade of taking over her sisters life.

I like Zoe Kazan, and felt she was one of the best things in Ruby Sparks, but in this film some of the choices are quite weird. The voice she seems to put on is quite grating at times, and it isn’t until she starts to get more confident that it goes away. She plays the character quite well, and you can see the character get more confident as she goes along, knowing that she is important.

Jake Johnson is quite possibly the star of this film. He doesn’t do much different than his character on New Girl, but I love that character, so wasn’t that sad to see it being played here. His and Kazan’s “playing” of Mr and Mrs Brown is one of the sweetest things in the movie. Its funny to see how people can get lost in playing other people, and having the character plays the typical nuclear family (well, 2.4 children type) was great. It showed a developing relationship between the two, was playful, yet full of sexual tension at the same time. Playing “The Browns” also allows Kazan’s character to not face the reality that she is in, that her sister is dead.

Ron Livingstone on the other hand doesn’t get much to play with, he is a 2D womaniser with a smug voice. He doesn’t have that much screen time, in fact I could count the minutes on both hands how much he is in the movie. It seems like a waste, but it allows more time for the Kazan/Johnson relationship to build, so I’m not that fussed about it.

The film could have been so much more, but it failed to deliver.

[rating=2]

Agree/Disagree with my review? Follow me on twitter @rickylovesfilm and we can discuss it.

Ricky Diaz

Genre:
Comedy/Drama
Distributor:
Sony Home Entertainment
DVD Release Date:
16th June 2014
Rating: 15
Run Time
90 mins
Director:
Jenée LaMarque
Cast:
Zoe Kazan, Jake Johnson, Ron Livingstone
Buy:The Pretty One [DVD] [2014]