Directed by: Mark Pellington
Starring: Thomas Jane, Jeremy Piven, Rob Lowe, Christian McKay, Carla Gugino, Arielle Kebbel
Distributed by Magnolia Pictures
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 129 minutes
Film: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Extras: 3.5 out of 5 stars
“I Melt for You” is a complete rip-off of “The Hangover” but a lot darker and more grim. The film starts off real well but then after 45 minutes nothing really happens until the end where it feels really rushed. I feel there was little direction for the story and it caused the film to drag in the second act. The film literally can be trimmed at least 30 minutes, 129 minutes is just too long.. The film does get some great performances from the cast but it is not enough to save this indie.
The film follows four former college buddies (Jeremy Piven, Rob Lowe, Thomas Jane, Christian McKay) who reunite for a weekend of drugs and partying. After coming down from their high, the group start to realize that they are not the same people that they were in college. It turns out that each man has dark secrets that once revealed will change the mood of the weekend and the rest of their lives.
The only thing this film has going for it is it fantastic cast. Jeremy Piven, Rob Lowe, Thomas Jane and Christian McKay, who all give really intense dramatic performances. The Blu-ray presentation is a not super impressive. Even though it is an indie film, the video is not really up to Blu-ray standard, not terrible but just not impressive. The sound packs a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which works well with the film’s music soundtrack.
Until the film itself, the special features are actually quite impressive. There are two commentary tracks included on this Blu-ray. The first features Mark Pellington, Rob Lowe and Jeremy Piven and is quite entertaining. The second commentary track features Mark Pellington (again), screenwriter Glenn Porter, and cinematographer Eric Schmidt. It takes a more technical turn into the film’s production. There almost 20 minutes of deleted scenes included, some worth watching. There is a decent length behind-the-scenes featurette, which runs just short of a half and hour. Like all Magnolia releases there an HDNet feature “A Look at I Melt with You”, nothing special just an extended promo.
Even though those features above are good my favorites are the following extras. There are one-on-one interviews with Mark Pellington and Jeremy Piven. Pellington’s interview runs almost 40 minutes and is very extensive. “Jeremy Piven Mood Piece” is an interesting collection of clips narrated by Piven. “Thomas Jane Teaser” is an elaborate monologue, which just secures what a character Jane really is. I can honestly watch/listen to Thomas Jane all day long. Lastly there is a whole punch of photo galleries and trailers from the film, rounding up great extras.
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