Let me start by saying that I enjoyed "Hanna's journey" most of the time. The lead actress was very attractive and looks pretty young for being in her early 30s. Sometimes the film was a bit cheesy and I did not totally believe the 180-degree turn in attitude of the central character, but oh well. Early on she makes pretty crass jokes about Jews and disabled, but then quickly changes during the trip mentioned in the movie title. It's just too much of a transformation to come off as credible, even if you take into account her own background. Maybe she should have been neutral on the issue early on and it could have helped the film's overall realism.
The "cheesy" I mentioned earlier summarizes the ending pretty nicely too. I won't go much into detail about what exactly happened, but it felt unrealistic to me and really more gooey than it should have. What i liked about the movie was that the main character was in a previous relationship and the way her original boyfriend was displayed. He was pretty much just like her before her great transformation. It was easy to not like him, what was probably the goal of the film-makers, but on the other hand they managed to make him not completely unlikeable as you obviously have to believe she once fell in love with him. Many other movies fail with this task and create him 100% unlikeable just to satisfy the audience when she finally ends the relationship with him and everybody says: "Oh yes great, he was an idiot anyway." The male main character was displayed accurately as well, with quite some charm and wits. The talk about atonement sex (is that the right term? you'll know what I'm referring to when watching the film) three times a week / day was pretty funny. In contrast to that, I was not too fond of the storyline involving her mother and the holocaust survivor. It's obviously needed as a bridge to the main character's past, but it all feels just forced and rushed in unfortunately as the filmmaker's attempt to make the movie more relevant than it actually turned out to be. Also the old lady did not look age-wise as if she was in her late 80s as she was supposed to be. The part with her roommates left something to be desired too. They were drawn as crass characters, but not really explored in depth, so they ended up as caricatures which was a bit of a pity.
You will enjoy this one the most if you take it for a road movie with slight historic background. Despite considerable flaws in writing/execution, it had its serious and funny moments such as the work with the disabled or the non-existing door.
The "cheesy" I mentioned earlier summarizes the ending pretty nicely too. I won't go much into detail about what exactly happened, but it felt unrealistic to me and really more gooey than it should have. What i liked about the movie was that the main character was in a previous relationship and the way her original boyfriend was displayed. He was pretty much just like her before her great transformation. It was easy to not like him, what was probably the goal of the film-makers, but on the other hand they managed to make him not completely unlikeable as you obviously have to believe she once fell in love with him. Many other movies fail with this task and create him 100% unlikeable just to satisfy the audience when she finally ends the relationship with him and everybody says: "Oh yes great, he was an idiot anyway." The male main character was displayed accurately as well, with quite some charm and wits. The talk about atonement sex (is that the right term? you'll know what I'm referring to when watching the film) three times a week / day was pretty funny. In contrast to that, I was not too fond of the storyline involving her mother and the holocaust survivor. It's obviously needed as a bridge to the main character's past, but it all feels just forced and rushed in unfortunately as the filmmaker's attempt to make the movie more relevant than it actually turned out to be. Also the old lady did not look age-wise as if she was in her late 80s as she was supposed to be. The part with her roommates left something to be desired too. They were drawn as crass characters, but not really explored in depth, so they ended up as caricatures which was a bit of a pity.
You will enjoy this one the most if you take it for a road movie with slight historic background. Despite considerable flaws in writing/execution, it had its serious and funny moments such as the work with the disabled or the non-existing door.
