Temps (2016) Online

I've really liked this movie - it's delicate, thoughtful, charming with the good performances. It contrasts two ways of living, which in their utmost are both self-destructive, though in different manners. The day for day living and the living with the job only for the future. The film focuses on the first and catches it very good.

I've really enjoyed the play of Grant Rosenmeyer and Lindsey Shaw and think they both have a great part in the authentic atmosphere of the story and the persuasiveness of the main characters.

It's also psychological truthful, it expresses excellent the fear that you're off with something only after you become aware that you've lost it.

A true movie doesn't need to end as a fairy-tale. It's out of the cliché and it's good for it.

A sort of rudderless comedy, possibly reflecting its Author's (Timothy A. Bennett: you can see him towards the end of the movie, uncredited, introducing Reid Ewing's dance performance) personality.

It has some good scenes and some good dialogue but in the end it fails to catch: none likes when a story doesn't tell anything. That makes you feel like you have wasted your time watching.

The film is not completely bad, though. Even if I would not recommend it, it has its good parts: after the least inspired 'before the mirror' scene I've seen in the last 20 years (just few minutes after the beginning of the flick), Grant Rosenmeyer redeems himself with a convincing performance, and so does the whole cast. Ryan Sage's work (editing and direction) seems OK and the same ingredients in a less confused recipe would have produced a different result.

A late 20 live-for-now guy (Jefferson) finds his belated way to adulthood.

Along the way he temps for a living, sleeps on his friends couch, and lives for the once-a-year opportunity to go skiing.

Enter a 'rebounding-from-a-relationship' girl (Stephanie), and 3 months of fun and serious sparks ensue.

A juncture looms for Jefferson, as the push of the past, and the fear of the future, with all its responsibility and accountability, become unavoidable.

It's a movie with sincere performances, simple story line, some pretty raunchy moments, and a less than typical American ending.

Watch and enjoy it in the moment :)

In this boy meets girl world type film, we find the main character as an aloof 20 something guy without a care in the world sleeping on his best friends sofa. Nothing spectacular there as he and his friend are all about going on some dream skiing trip. In order to do so, they take temporary jobs to build up to that day. Enter the girl, not as aloof but a bit off-centered as their relationship starts off a wee bit antagonistic. That soon melts away with a quick jump of the two have sex and more sex and more sex. Not too much depth there but in the course of their relationship, the girl gets feelings. She wants more from the relationship including a commitment from him. She's tired of the "F buddies" casting but he's content with that for whatever reasons. Well, his reasons are that he doesn't want to turn out like his stoner father and he has experienced the loss of his mother at a young age. His father lives on a boat he's leasing from a friend.

The supposed pressure that he's on with his F buddy causes him to lash out and the relationship ends. At the same time, his best friend is also reevaluating his life. He wants more than just a ski trip after finding out a past girlfriend is dead after being attacked by a bear. He wants to dance now, not ski. this leave our main character in a state of flux. He basically kamikaze his temp job which leads to him taking a temp job at an adult sex shop emporium. As he continues to work there, his ex-girlfriend shows up there with her new/old boyfriend. The sex shop was previously visited by them when they were a couple.

Awkwardness ensues as it isn't revealed that they know each other with the new/old boyfriend who describes a particular sex act she performed on him which she didn't do with him. Moving forward, the roommate has pursued his lukewarm dance career by performing at some experimental theater. The main character attends and find his ex and her new/old boyfriend there. They spot each other and nothing happens. It ends like a fizzing Alka-Seltzer tablet. No Happy Ever afters, just life.

The rom-com has become a whirlpool for clichés over the years. Boy and girl meet, they hit it off, they become close until an event causes friction between them, they eventually realise what they had and reconcile as the film fades into an up-tempo pop song to play out over the closing credits. Sound familiar? Just on occasion however, the sub-genre throws a curve ball into the mix ensuring a crucial part of the formula is turned upside-down creating a domino effect for the rest of the story to follow. TEMPS tries to do this, and should be commended for it. However, in the end TEMPS offers very little to ensure itself a status as anything that will linger in the memory

Jefferson (Rosenmeyer) and Steph (Shaw) meet while working as temps. They quickly establish a romance which, once the honeymoon period is over, leads the two of them to revaluate their life choices and priorities.

Billed as a romantic comedy, TEMPS goes easy on the comedy, instead opting to focus on the different stages of a blossoming romance. From the initial honeymoon period right up until the inevitable Facebook relationship request which of course will ensure panic is had by the one who has difficulty "putting a label on things". In this case that honour falls to Jefferson (Rosenmeyer). The character is very difficult to like or at times even take seriously as a potential love interest of the ambitious and forward-thinking Steph (Shaw). A rather desperate side plot involving Jefferson's friction-riddled relationship with his father (played by Chris Bauer) fails as an attempt to get us onside and just comes off as clumsy.

In contrast, Lindsey Shaw fares a lot better as Steph. She is convincing as a young woman at a crossroads in her life and she's also quite likable in the role, commendable considering the shortcomings of the uneven script she has to work with. In the key supporting role of male lead's humorous best friend (another rom-com cliché), Reid Ewing does what he can with a confusingly written character, coming off as part-Napoleon Dynamite and part-Spike; Rhys Ifans' roommate to Hugh Grant in NOTTING HILL. He might not want to put this one at the top of his resume.

TEMPS is simply trying to have too much of everything that is ends up not really having much of anything. As such, the majority of the run time is spent being unsure about whether to try and look for the humour in the situation or revel in the sadness. This rather unfocused driving force is largely prevalent throughout.

TEMPS does at least attempt to offer something a little different. Genre convention dictates that everything will be alright in the end and it may sound somewhat superficial to state that sometimes an unhappy ending can be the more satisfying one. TEMPS at least dares to tread in these waters and a breakaway from the formula is always a welcome one when more often it's easier to play it safe. Unfortunately in this instance, by the time we've got to that point the journey has not been worth the destination.