Yes, there are cheesy parts but I did find myself laughing quite a few times. There are serious parts, too. I liked how this movie portrayed friendship and family. There were quite a few good messages throughout the movie about relationships, self observation, and grief. I think it's a great movie for women and young women to watch. Or even couples.
I like to watch lesser known or low budget movies and review them because for the ones that are good and worth watching, I want the writers to know they did a good job and to keep going. It wasn't perfect, but I was entertained the whole way. And I left feeling a more introspective. So, great job :)
13 Reviews
"A Surprised Known"
Kamurai2510 March 2021
Good watch, would watch again, and can recommend.
This is a good, if somewhat standard, "boy next door" trope mixed with a "control freak" and " eating disorder" cliches.
Fiona Gubelmann pretty much carries the movie, but she's good enough to watch it just for her. Sadly, I think this plays a factor as a lot of the movie is just her not accepting the availability of the guy she loves.
Sure, it's a chick flick, but the way the break down and dissect the scenarios through the scenes is pretty good.
It was an uplifting watch that I could really use at the time.
This is a good, if somewhat standard, "boy next door" trope mixed with a "control freak" and " eating disorder" cliches.
Fiona Gubelmann pretty much carries the movie, but she's good enough to watch it just for her. Sadly, I think this plays a factor as a lot of the movie is just her not accepting the availability of the guy she loves.
Sure, it's a chick flick, but the way the break down and dissect the scenarios through the scenes is pretty good.
It was an uplifting watch that I could really use at the time.
Not all books need to be adapted into a film
shacmasta29 December 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Surprise Me is a classic example of a book - which I admittedly never read but by watching this film can easily see it was better than the film.
First the pacing is terrible...which is usually a problem. It ebbs and flows like some demented girlfriend...from comedy to drama. It's like a girlfriend who asks if she looks fat in this dress and you just don't know how to respond... This was an hour and 45mins of emotional torture... The acting is pretty terrible I'm a fan of rom-coms and enjoy Jonathan Bennett in most of the things he's done. He's pretty much the only redeemable quality. The rest of the cast is horrid. Sean Faris plays his role like a creepy murderer who's waiting to peel his girlfriends face skin and wear it as a mask. Fiona Gubelmann is plain intolerable...I know a lot of her bad acting is probably the script but just so many scenes were absolutely cringeworthy. How she snapped at her mother for not caring about her father's death...to her snapping at her best friend for actually having a girlfriend and seems happy...to her playing the jealous girlfriend routine, it was torture.
The biggest issue with this film is the marketing department wanting to grab that romantic comedy fanbase cash but this film is truly at its core about a woman who is still grieving the death of her father....because of that it never really knows what it is and you watching it can only sit there confused, bored and annoyed.
Don't go into this film expecting a Hallmark or Lifetime romantic comedy...Do not be fooled by the poster.
First the pacing is terrible...which is usually a problem. It ebbs and flows like some demented girlfriend...from comedy to drama. It's like a girlfriend who asks if she looks fat in this dress and you just don't know how to respond... This was an hour and 45mins of emotional torture... The acting is pretty terrible I'm a fan of rom-coms and enjoy Jonathan Bennett in most of the things he's done. He's pretty much the only redeemable quality. The rest of the cast is horrid. Sean Faris plays his role like a creepy murderer who's waiting to peel his girlfriends face skin and wear it as a mask. Fiona Gubelmann is plain intolerable...I know a lot of her bad acting is probably the script but just so many scenes were absolutely cringeworthy. How she snapped at her mother for not caring about her father's death...to her snapping at her best friend for actually having a girlfriend and seems happy...to her playing the jealous girlfriend routine, it was torture.
The biggest issue with this film is the marketing department wanting to grab that romantic comedy fanbase cash but this film is truly at its core about a woman who is still grieving the death of her father....because of that it never really knows what it is and you watching it can only sit there confused, bored and annoyed.
Don't go into this film expecting a Hallmark or Lifetime romantic comedy...Do not be fooled by the poster.
Second half is basically a different movie
rcleos12 July 2020
Warning: Spoilers
While this movie is all around not very good, there seems to be a big shift change midway through.
The first half sets up the plot - a woman balances her work life and personal relationships while being courted by a man she met at the grocery store. Pretty soon into the movie, it becomes apparent that the main character is simply a bad person. She is mean (under the guise of sarcasm), and self-centered. She claims to have no interest in her best friend (Aaron Samuel from Mean Gurls) until he begins dating someone, which prompts her to fantasize about punching the girl in the face.
Just as you begin to get a feel for the plot, the movie switches gears. Suddenly the lead is sadly going through the motions of life. The man who viciously courted her in the first half turns into an uninterested gaslighter who goes days without returning her calls (despite the fact that he initially pushed her into the relationship, even though she was apprehensive).
At this point you begin to forget about the other characters. You forget about her job. You see her binge eating in the dark as she cries. You watch her boyfriend ignore her then invalidate her feelings when she brings up that she feels ignored and hurt. You are basically watching a depressed person spiral out of control for 45 minutes.
After counseling, she begins to get back to normal. She is still with the awful boyfriend for some reason. For a little while, it seems as if she's grown into a kinder person.
Ultimately though, she goes back to the same ol mean spirited person she was before. The part that I found the most unfortunate was at the very end, she begins to repeat the exact words the gaslighting boyfriend used on her, to her new love interest. It was truly as if the whole plot led up to the main character going from "mean, self-centered and sad" to "mean and now equipped with manipulation tactics."
Also. This is set in "Chicago," but despite being around Halloween time, they didn't even attempt to make this look like Fall. No leaves on the ground, sun shining bright, people in shorts, everything is green. That just really bugged me!
The first half sets up the plot - a woman balances her work life and personal relationships while being courted by a man she met at the grocery store. Pretty soon into the movie, it becomes apparent that the main character is simply a bad person. She is mean (under the guise of sarcasm), and self-centered. She claims to have no interest in her best friend (Aaron Samuel from Mean Gurls) until he begins dating someone, which prompts her to fantasize about punching the girl in the face.
Just as you begin to get a feel for the plot, the movie switches gears. Suddenly the lead is sadly going through the motions of life. The man who viciously courted her in the first half turns into an uninterested gaslighter who goes days without returning her calls (despite the fact that he initially pushed her into the relationship, even though she was apprehensive).
At this point you begin to forget about the other characters. You forget about her job. You see her binge eating in the dark as she cries. You watch her boyfriend ignore her then invalidate her feelings when she brings up that she feels ignored and hurt. You are basically watching a depressed person spiral out of control for 45 minutes.
After counseling, she begins to get back to normal. She is still with the awful boyfriend for some reason. For a little while, it seems as if she's grown into a kinder person.
Ultimately though, she goes back to the same ol mean spirited person she was before. The part that I found the most unfortunate was at the very end, she begins to repeat the exact words the gaslighting boyfriend used on her, to her new love interest. It was truly as if the whole plot led up to the main character going from "mean, self-centered and sad" to "mean and now equipped with manipulation tactics."
Also. This is set in "Chicago," but despite being around Halloween time, they didn't even attempt to make this look like Fall. No leaves on the ground, sun shining bright, people in shorts, everything is green. That just really bugged me!
The worst
cdyoungs26 February 2020
Quite possibly the worst movie I've ever seen. So many parts that made no sense. So many extra characters around that they tried to make larger than life. Was this is comedy? Was this a drama? I'm still not sure. Only got a 2nd star because I did watch til the end because I wanted to send how they ended up...
Story about an emotionally abusive relationship and all the enablers.
lauraagit20 December 2020
I can't believe how a film can have such great actors but such a horrible message and script.
WHY has no one mentioned this yet?
Why were the people who supposedly loved her \ ones she trusted letting her go through emotional and physical trauma!!!
What type of message is this supposed to send!
Horrible film . Horrible message! It only gets 1 star because in the last 5 minutes girl gets some comon sense.
But she needed help and her friends and family did **** all to help her. Only one friend breifly mentions how toxic the guy is BUT ends up pushing them back together and participating at the "surprise" ???? NO.
This is wrong on so many levels.
Trigger warning for anyone who has ever been in an emotionally abusive relationship.
Trigger warning for anyone who has ever been in an emotionally abusive relationship.
Slow Start, Good Finish
jeffreyecarl11 August 2023
It took awhile to get going, but once it did my wife & I enjoyed it. There were some serious personal issues the main character had to deal with and there was some truth in how it was handled. It had a good mix of ups, downs and laughs as well. I felt that the film turned the corner with the introduction of the therapist character. She played a great part, bringing both levity and some serious introspection advice. As the main character starts out somewhat ok, then does a serious crash and burn, but at the end finds her true self and heals old and new wounds, and emerges as her own woman, strong enough to rise above the hardships that have held her back since her childhood. Throw in a nice slow percolating romance and a happy ending for good measure. I recommend it for you romcom fans, but you've got to hang in there for a bit until it gets up some steam. I think the cast, writers and production staff deserve to be proud of a nice indy film. Thanks for a good date night.
Should be PG-13
avastewart-4129518 October 2022
Not sure why it's NR- not rated, but it Should be PG-13. There is a lot of talk about sex and making of a clay penis. There's one scene where it's obvious that they slept together. There are several uses of bad language: S word B word A word. I'm not sure why this rating system requires a certain amount of characters/words so I'll just fill it up now with my opinion. I have liked the blonde lead actress and other things so I was very disappointed to see her in this sketchy and inappropriate movie. I don't know why they feel the need to use bad language and sexual innuendos and conversations. It certainly couldn't have made the movie worse by leaving those out.
Beyond Hallmark cheesy and I like chick flicks
theologos-1322125 August 2022
For a chick flick it could have been much better with some minor changes, but the last scenes ruin the movie. For one, you can easily guess the outcome 30 minutes in. With some minor rewriting, they could've made this pretty cute.
Misleading cast position, script makes no sense.
aj111124 March 2020
This is a terrible movie. I only watched it because Nicole Sullivan was listed first and after seeing her play quirky sidekicks in Scrubs and Cougartown, I thought it would be interesting to see her ina leading role. But she's not the lead and the movie otherwise makes no sense. And the ending is absurd.
Sooooo bad
jayneburton-521836 July 2021
Literally the Worst
elysebradley-682-963177 February 2020
Disturbing movie
sweber3303-590-8158665 October 2023
Warning: Spoilers
So many things wrong with this movie. Mental illness, gaslighting, and emotional abuse. So many things. The main character has so many friends, who let her down the whole movie. They watched her be gaslit, lied to, emotionally abused, and cheated on. And all her friends let it go on. Even her step father and best friend participated in the abuse. None of which is ok. Then, they have the main character marry one of the people who knowingly participated in the abuse, as though that is somehow a happy ending.
I give the movie a 1 just because it I can't give it a zero. I would have stopped watching 1/2 through, but I kept hoping one of her many close friends would come through for her. But, even worse, we find that ALL of them were in on it.
I give the movie a 1 just because it I can't give it a zero. I would have stopped watching 1/2 through, but I kept hoping one of her many close friends would come through for her. But, even worse, we find that ALL of them were in on it.
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