eyefordetail I had the privilege of meeting Demetri Martin for the first time in this movie. Written, acted, directed and visuals. Which perhaps gives me a perspective not tainted by expectations or comparisons. I found the slow burn dry humour wonderfully fresh and exceptionally entertaining. The movie is well balanced and never goes down a rabbit hole of grief, awkwardness, friendship or life. Like a mini-golf game, the ball circles these holes masterfully and skillfully. This is a family movie without the grit in the eye and smut that clutters our screens so frequently. The soundtrack was spot-on and my 18-year-old daughter connected to the movie through this angle. In all, a good movie with a good simple story masterfully crafted. I will follow Demetri with keen interest from now on. He stirred my Woody Allen genes, which says a lot about the level his talent is benchmarked at. By me, that is. A pleasant saturday evening movie with a nice glass of Pinot.

Moviegoer19 Just finished watching "Dean" and don't have intense thoughts or feelings staying with me as one does with the best films. I did enjoy watching it though, for there was enough thoughtful and humorous content to keep me involved. I think the low-key personality of Dean worked well in showing a young creative man dealing with grief and his own personality issues. I had the sense life wasn't exactly a great fun ride for him even before his mother's death.The use of his cartoons and his subtle sense of humor served to highlight the troubling aspects of the main characters' lives, including, not only Dean, but Robert (Kevin Kline), and Dean's so-called best friend, Eric. They were all dealing with loneliness and loss in one way or another.What didn't quite make it with me was the score. I've never been a fan of this type of music which I'll call folksy-pop music. In this case the songs' lyrics related to the action that was taking place, e.g., when Dean makes the somewhat out-of-character move of leaving the airplane just before takeoff because a woman he liked called him, the song's main lyric was "I'm a gambler..." Because I find this music to be almost sappy, having it accompany strong emotional moments seemed corny to me, and didn't enhance a film that already has its elements of nerdiness.While for me it was a pleasant way to spend an hour and a half, I could see how a viewer who's personally dealing with loss of a loved one might get more out of it.

Larry Silverstein Dimitri Martin writes, directs, and stars here as Dean, who is an illustrator and writer trying to cope with the recent loss of his mother. He's also struggling in his relationship with his father Robert (Kevin Kline), who is also finding his own ways of grieving his loss. With work on his next book blocked by his sadness, Dean decides to travel from Brooklyn to Los Angeles to meet with a dot.com ad agency who have expressed interest in his drawings. While there, Dean will hook up with some old friends like Eric (Rory Scovel) and Becca (Briga Heelan), as well as meeting a new woman Nicky (Gillian Jacobs).I thought the scenes with his friends and Nicky worked well and were often heartfelt and humorous. However, other parts of this movie seemed awkward and flat, so a mixed bag overall.All in all, I thought this rather quirky and oddball dramedy, employing lots of deadpan humor, was only partially successful.

frebo3 According to the New York Times reviewer, "Mr. Martin's take on grief is facile." As one who, with my son, is still processing the recent death of his mother, my wife of 50+ years, I take exception to Mr. Genzingler's glib assessment of Mr Martin's oeuvre. I found "Dean" to be a profoundly insightful representation of the ways in which some of us try to adjust to life without a loved one. Attempting to fill the void in one's life with another living person is a natural step in the real process of assuaging grief - not a "facile" plot device. Other critics seem to fault Mr Martin for failing to inhabit his established comic persona in the role of Dean, the grief stricken son. Yet to me, his characterization was extremely realistic, as was Kevin Kline's subtly nuanced portrayal of a man past mid-life attempting to build a bridge to a new life over a deep and enduring void. I admit I'm not familiar with Mr Martin's previous work as a writer, cartoonist, actor and comedian. But based on the quality of his innovative work on this film alone I would rank him as a creative genius and "Dean" as one of the best films I've seen in more than a half-century of movie going.