The Voices (2014) Reviews

• Very dark, bitter-sweet journey

  storm_mica2015-11-08

  I must admit I loved parts of this movie and other parts I hated; which is not to say they were bad, I simply didn't like some parts because of the emotions they brought to the surface. The voices is a very dark comedy; there were parts which were completely laugh out loud funny (eg: many of mister whiskers' lines) and other parts were tragically serious. I am not a Ryan Reynolds fan (at all) but this could have changed my mind completely, I didn't realise that he had done the voices until I read about it here. Jackie Weaver was outstanding as the psychiatrist American accent and all. What I found outstanding about this movie is that it has very few of the dumbed-down, pathetic and predictable traits of the trite drivel Hollywood peddle as "comedy". There was no comparison really. I recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys a thought-provoking, less than predictable adult-oriented movie (ie: people who aren't offended by adult concepts and the f-word).

  More

• An underrated film with a strong performance from Reynolds.

  Unluckymagpie2015-12-06

  A truly underrated film. It has a brilliant performance from Ryan Reynolds, in a role that is pretty unusual for him, and allows him to get out of his typical action stereotype, as he really is a great comedic and dramatic actor, when paired with the right script. A curiously sinister yet funny tone that simultaneously makes you want to laugh and throw up, the film is a dark comedy- with emphasis on the DARK- and may not be suited to everyone's tastes, admittedly. It has moments where the gore can be quite, well, gory, and certainly it touches on mental illness in a way that may make some people uncomfortable. However, in my view, the film never makes fun of Jerry, our protagonist. In Reynolds' words, he is "a serial killer with a heart of gold", and he still remains a likable character that you root for, even to the end. The film beholds beautiful visuals with great use of colours and very creative ways of showing how Jerry's mind works. I honestly loved it, and recommend it!

  More

• Ryan Reynolds is a Norman Bates for the 21st century

  brchthethird2015-03-05

  For some reason Ryan Reynolds hasn't really taken off as a movie star, but I can't really see why. He has the good looks and he has a likable personality. Maybe it has to do with GREEN LANTERN? (not the best movie, but I still enjoyed it). Well, this time teamed up with director Marjane Satrapi (PERSEPOLIS) in her English-language debut, Ryan Reynolds delivers what is probably the best performance of his career. He plays Jerry, a rather unassuming (but subtly creepy) guy who works at a faucet and fixture warehouse in a small town. Everything seems alright on the surface, but deep inside Jerry has some problems. Aside from a troubled childhood, he also hears voices inside his head, and these voices tell him to do things...bad things. I'll just say that for those looking for a lighthearted comedy, this isn't it. THE VOICES goes to some pretty dark places, but manages to balance the tone fairly evenly between comedy and shock, of which there is plenty. But most importantly, Jerry is a guy you actually care about. Despite his...issues, he really wants to do the right thing and live a normal life. Too bad that his cat Mr. Whiskers is more influential than his goodhearted dog Bosco. Across the board, all of the performances were excellent. You have Anna Kendrick and Gemma Arterton who play a couple of Jerry's coworkers, and Jacki Weaver plays his court-appointed psychiatrist. They could have been developed a little more, but this is mostly Ryan Reynold's show and boy does he deliver! From a technical standpoint, I thought the cinematography and production design lent a sort of fairy-tale quality to the film, and the color scheme which had a lot of pinks and oranges provided a nice contrast with dark subject material. As far as the gory stuff is concerned, they don't show a whole lot, instead opting for some pretty gruesome sound design. Often the power of suggestion is more effective than actually showing violent acts. And, in this case, it actually works in the film's favor because Jerry can remain just as likable when you don't actually see him kill people most of the time. If there's any weaknesses to the film, it's that it doesn't really try anything new or revolutionary in its approach to the whole "loveable serial killer" thing. Almost nothing that happens in this movie is unpredictable in some way, with one big exception which I'll leave for you to experience on your own should you choose to watch this. Overall I enjoyed this a lot, mainly because I'm drawn to oddball films like this, but also because I haven't seen Ryan Reynolds this good in, well, forever. For lovers of dark comedies, I'd say THE VOICES is a must-see.

  More

• An empathetic story about schizophrenia

  cfish-42015-02-06

  Of all the psych thrillers I watch, this movie is the most empathetic look. It tells us how far we have come to demystify mental illness. The protagonist Jerry is schizophrenic and hallucinating, but as least he's not a paranoid (e.g. twelve monkeys) And he's actually somewhat aware that he hallucinates. And we see the story through Jerry's narrative. We could see why he didn't want to take his medications. We learned about the traumatic events that brought Jerry the conclusion that he must kill. We learn about his version of love. The story takes the audience through an empathetic journal within his mind. The darkness of the mind often bring out sick sense of humor as a coping mechanism. Comedians are some of the darkest people out there. I don't think I laughed much watching this movie, but I feel the sadness of understanding Jerry's hopeless being. I have to agree with other reviewers that the trailer could be misleading because it doesn't give an inkling about how dark the story is. But I think it's a good story nonetheless. It explains how the mentally ill could see and understand the world different from the healthy. Death, for example, is understood very differently from Jerry's perspective. To him, death means love. We could how he came to this conclusion from his trauma. Some reviewers balk at the poor logic - to me, they are the lucky people who have never experienced serious mental illness. Good for them. To those other people with more openness and empathy, I hope the story tells them that the logical thing to do depends on the context of one's understanding of the world. It's a sad story of hopelessness, but in a way, also makes me feel empathy, love and warmth for the protagonist.

  More

• I liked it.

  sforrester-32015-05-05

  I wasn't expecting a great deal from this but was pleasantly surprised. I do like Ryan Reynolds and I think he played this perfectly, giving the slightly comedic element whilst still portraying someone suffering from extreme mental health problems. Showing us the difference between the medicated and unmedicated character was well done and although there were one or two points I would question, overall the balance was handled well. I liked that the character had a well thought out back story and his desire to be "normal" as well as the torture that he couldn't be really came across. I would give this one a go if you enjoy quirky films with a bit of an edge.

  More