Rating of
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Terri, a real feel-good movie!
Bartvov - wrote on 12/07/11
I came across this movie by accident. The plot seemed a little ordinary, just another 'been there done that' movie about a troubled mind. In the end it were John C. Reilly and the Sundance nomination that convinced me to watch it. At first glance the plot doesn't seem exciting or renewing. In many ways it isn't and it are other aspects that make this a great movie.
Terri (Jacob Wysocki) is the troubled mind in this movie. On the outside he has everything to be bullied. He's overweight, socially awkward and all in all just a loner. But the first great thing in this movie is the fact that it's not about bullying. There's not one moment where Terri is being bullied. He gets laughed at sometimes, but no more than any other high school kid. The movie focuses more on the actual (few) relations he has. The one that's the most present is his relation with principal Fitzgerald (John C. Reilly). A typical mentor-apprentice relation with just that little extra.
Terri lives with his senile uncle (Creed Bratton) who needs a lot of care. The feeling I get from this relation is that Terri has made peace with it. For many people, such a situation can bring out lots of emotions (sadness, rewarding, irritating, …), but for Terri it’s just life.
As I said, Terri doesn’t get bullied, but he doesn’t have many relations with his peers either. There are two people of his own age he has a good understanding with. The first one is Chad (Bridger Zadina). Chad is, like Terri, a bit of an outcast, a loner. Unlike Terri he has more visible ‘weird’ qualities. Their relation grows throughout the movie, but they also have to overcome some obstacles. Later in the movie, a girl joins Terri’s life. Heather (Olivia Crocicchia) starts out as being one of the pretty, popular girls, but an event happens that also turns her in some sort of an outcast. After this Terri and Heather find each other, not particularly on a romantic level, but more as friends. They seek comfort in each other and Terri discovers an unknown world through her.
I’m not going to reveal any more because then I would have to scream spoiler alert. This movie has emotions, humor and life lessons. It’s a real feel-good movie (real=not fake), although it ends abruptly. A good movie everyone with a heart should watch!
