The Year of Getting to Know Us (2008)

Director:

Patrick Sisam

Writers (WGA):

Patrick Sisam (screenplay) &
Rick Velleu (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

October 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

A commitment-phobic man reunites with his estranged, ailing father and comes to terms with his own childhood.

Cast

Jimmy Fallon	...	Chris Rocket
Chase Ellison	...	Young Christopher
Sharon Stone	...	Jane Rocket
Lucy Liu	...	Anne
Tom Arnold	...	Ron Rocket
Illeana Douglas	...	Christine Jacobson
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Armando Acevedo	...	Mexican Caddie
Christian Andreas	...	Uncle Sam (as Andries Christiaan)
Karl Anthony	...	Golfer #2
Eugenie Bondurant	...	Strange Woman
Connor Boyle	...	Young Nickie Apple
Haley Boyle	...	Autumn
Ralph Cahill	...	Golfer
Jeff Chase	...	Arnold
Brian Patrick Clarke	...	Tom Jacobsen
John Connon	...	Mark
Brandon Foerster	...	Partygoer
Raquel Gardner	...	Bartender
Gail Golden	...	Perky Woman
Tony Hale	...	Nickie
Mitch Harbeson	...	Party guy
Jamie Hartley	...	Airline Employee
Holland Hayes	...	Golfer #1
David Humphrey	...	TSA officer
Deborah Hurm	...	Cafe Patron
Susanne Kreitman Taylor	...	Claire
Mark Lainer	...	Bald Man
P.J. Lalka	...	Partygoer
Ron Lewis Jr.	...	Busboy
Trevin Lica	...	Young Lance
John Archer Lundgren	...	Carnie
Ed Machek	...	Velleu
Andre Marshall	...	Airline Passenger
Tiffany Marshall	...	Airline Passenger
Zachary Memos	...	Male Agent
Peggy Sheffield	...	Nurse
Ethan S. Smith	...	Rental Kid
Paul Spicer	...	Airport Security Guard
Jordana Spiro	...	Kim
R.J. Stallman	...	Cafe Patron
Bree Turner	...	Sandi
John Weyrick	...	Leprechaun
Stewart J. Zully	...	Officer Baldwin

Also Known As:

Eliot Rockett (USA) (working title)
Rocket (USA) (working title)
Rockett (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Filming Locations:

Adventure Landing - 1944 Beach Boulevard, Jacksonville Beach, Florida, USA

Company:

Grand Army Entertainment

Soundtrack:

You Should Be Gone

This film deserves to be in IMDb's Bottom 10

I saw the world premiere of this film at Sundance and it is seriously one of the five worst films I have seen in my lifetime. During the Q&A (in which the director and entire cast were present), no one in the audience had anything worth saying because the film was so awful. It was a pretty awkward moment.

Considering all of the 10s this film has received, it seems to me that people connected with the film are clearly the ones giving it a rating without considering the quality of the final product. If you honestly think this is a good film, you have no taste when it comes to film-making.

Jimmy Fallon is painfully one dimensional. Lucy Liu is good, but her role has no meat-- it's sad that these are the only parts she is given. Tom Arnold is not an actor and never has been. Sharon Stone is caricaturish. Illeana Douglas and Tony Hale give the best performances, but in minor roles. What most people don't know about this film is that the director cuts back and forth between the present and the past at least twenty times-- an overused technique that not even the most mundane film students resort to these days. This forces Arnold and Stone, who play Fallon's parents, to carry a major portion of the film in the flashbacks.

There is rarely a truthful moment in the film. The script is contrived. The cliché ending can be seen in any below-average Hollywood romantic comedy. I hope this director grows in maturity before he writes or directs another film. He had the budget and resources at his fingertips, but blew his opportunity because he wasn't properly equipped.

Which Sundance programmer allowed this film to be shown? They should be ashamed of themselves. The work speaks for itself and it clearly falls short. I'd hate to think that the programmer was being wooed by the producer's rep or other people behind the film without considering the ramifications of screening something of this quality at Sundance. Is this what Redford's vision has come to?