[yasr_overall_rating]
For his first effort as director, Captain America star Chris Evans decided to go with the easiest possible story to tell on the big screen. The result is Before We Go, a sugary and sweet movie that’s filled with empty calories.
Before We Go finds Evans starring as Nick, a trumpet player who has traveled to New York to audition for a great jazz pianist. While sitting in Grand Central Station near the end of the day, he spots a young woman running to catch a train. That woman is Brooke (Alice Eve, Star Trek Into Darkness), an art dealer who had her purse stolen. They are total strangers, but connect through their own misery - Brooke’s marriage is in shambles and Nick still has his heart set on a girl who dumped him six years ago.
Despite an incredibly simple story, it astonishingly took four people to put together this screenplay (Ron Bass, Jen Smolka, Chris Shaffer and Paul Vicknair) and it feels like it. The dialogue is clunky and predictable. They also struggle to insert new problems for our leading pair in an effort to make us believe that they should not fall in love with each other.
These two characters are played by such great-looking leads that it’s hard to feel bad for them. John Guilserian’s photography makes it look like this whole movie was just filmed during a glamorous photoshoot in New York. And once Evans figured out that not everything has to be in focus in a shot, he must have decided that none of his shots should be completely in focus. If I saw one more light turned into a circular blotch on the screen, I might have stopped the movie.
Before We Go is a nice effort for a first-time director, but you might have expected more from someone who has worked on big blockbusters. At least the performances from Eve and Evans are likeable enough that Before We Go isn’t too hard to sit through.
The film was released on Blu-ray this week. Since the only bonus feature is a three-minute interview with Evans (including a lot of scenes from the film), it’s hard to recommend purchasing. This is a Radius-TWC film, so expect it to be streaming soon.