Race You to the Bottom

2005 "Maybe their boyfriends should worry..."
Race You to the Bottom
5| 1h13m| R| en| More Info
Released: 01 January 2005 Released
Producted By: Regent Releasing
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

Nathan and Maggie are in the throes of a passionate affair. They're young, good-looking, and both have boyfriends. When Nathan is assigned to write a travel article on romantic hot-spots in Napa Valley, these unconventional lovers test the limits of the sensuality and fantasy that bond them.

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david-blanco-861-258536 I watched this movie as I had a spare hour and a half and the 73 minute running time intrigued me, as I often find that a lot films these days are over inflated and over long. This film is a confusing "love" story with an unlikeable lead. The casting of the leading male actor was a mistake as far as I was concerned. He didn't (to me) have the charisma required to portray the "lothario" he was convinced he was. His looks bordered on effeminate. Don't get me wrong, effeminacy does not bother me in the slightest,but in this case, I found it hard to find the actor/character as irresistible as the film would have you believe. Kudos however must go to the lady playing the female lead. I felt she gave a good performance and she made me feel for her. Which is a definite plus, right? The road trip format of this movie has been done before. And I quite enjoy road trips if the traveling companions are interesting and the destination is worth the trip. In this case, it wasn't. Not a total waste of time, but I would not recommend this as a must see.
ambersknight This review will contain spoilers in general terms but if you do not want to know I give the 2 stars purely for the performance of Amber Benson who somehow manages to make her deeply unsympathetic character watchable.However, that aside the movie is truly depressing. In essence we have two thoroughly unlikable, hedonistic people who are so shallow and self destructive that they are having an affair which given how self-centred they are can't possibly go anywhere meanwhile hurting their boyfriends who for some reason like them. I could almost accept this if the characters learned something from the experience, but the ending seems to hint at the real possibility that they've learned nothing. So we have a very long, depressing 70+ minutes with nothing to show for it. Long travel, no distance.The acting, Miss Benson aside, is pretty bad. Cole Williams simply lacks any charisma as the leading man and none of the support cast come across with anything to raise above woeful in the performance.But the onus of this sad project's failure lies fairly and squarely on the head and shoulders of its writer/director. What is he trying to say about relationships and people in this film? Nothing positive at all, in fact I'd almost go as far as saying the director seems to have a real disdain for people and relationships. Worse yet the film certainly re-enforced a lot of the insecurities and distrust that i have about relationships so it doesn't even manage to entertain. it merely sits in what feels like a cesspool of loathing.The direction is competent to be fair but nothing above TV show, and low budget TV show at that.I'm a big fan of Miss Benson's, and certainly think she is good in this, but the film is thoroughly depressing, lacking either sympathetic characters or any real moral compass or purpose other than to depress people. Unless you feel like watching a film to slit your wrists to, I'd avoid this film like the proverbial plague.
Franco-LA A reviewer for a well respected industry paper said this movie had modest aspirations in giving it a brief, although not negative review. Unfortunately, those aspirations apparently had nothing to do with fleshed out or likable characters that the audience could either empathize with or have any interest in. The two leads are genuinely unlikeable, with few redeeming attributes to their credit. "We'll always have Paris" is what passes for wit and charm but it's kind of like your relatives bring five day old leftovers for the third day in a row because you've overstayed your welcome. The movie is technically sufficiently proficient but this is a horrible script that should never have seen the light of day on film, not even as a school video project. There is nothing this movie tells anyone about being bisexual, gay, male and female bonding, friendship, or anything else (except possibly as a brief travelogue on Napa, something Sideways (albeit about Santa Barbara) or any Food Network show on wine does with far more superiority and without making you sit through all this dross. It goes on over long but even at that, there is no "there" there to have justified making this a short of any length. This is not a movie I could even recommend to borrow for free from your local library or a friend. Hopefully, you don't have the kind of friends who would own this DVD and trust me, even a children's book for the pre-school set would be superior material for borrowing from the library system that this.
juhagman I found this movie to be quite good. The story was well written and an interesting. The story gives a fresh view to the complex relationships of young people, at a time when the gender roles are not as strictly defined as they used to be. The acting and dialogue were very good, especially the main characters feel very real and alive. The music and the beautiful scenery of northern California also added to the feeling of the movie. I did not like the rhythm of the story, it felt like a long introduction to the the high point that never came, I would have wanted to see how the main characters and their friends reacted to the big conflict in their lives and how they coped with the changes it brought. Also some of the flashbacks felt a bit out of place. Despite the problems with rhythm it is a strong debut for the director.