And Then Came Lola (2009) Reviews

• A Bad Studen Film Trying To Be A Big Girl Movie

  plasticanimalz2014-07-18

  A friend of mine saw this at a film festival and by her description of it it sounded like a bad movie. I was curious but not willing to pay money to see what I already predicted I would not like. I stumbled upon it on Netflix and decided to give it the benefit of the doubt. A total waste of time. I was only able to get through 20-30 minutes of it before I had to switch to something more interesting...'Murder, She Wrote.' That's right. I was more entertained watching 70 year olds than a universally poor lesbian film. Every level of this film was bad and it read like a poorly made student film. Its blatant rip-off of the popular 'Run Lola Run' and 'When Harry Met Sally' simply screams, "I have no creative sense of story, directing, or camera work, so I'll just take someone else's work." The only other instance where I've seen a film so directly take from someone else with no shame about it was Gus Van Sant's 'Psycho.' Which, at least that was a remake and meant for artistic expression, even if it failed. True, nothing is completely original these days and uses from something else but I can't think of a single instance where I've seen it done to this degree, which, again, simply says the writer and director, which are the same, are simply saying "I have no creative vision of my own and I'm just going to take someone else's frame and build my own story over it." If they'd done that to an American film they most likely would have been sued. Amongst its other failures are the writing, directing, acting, cinematography, editing, camera work, casting, and set design. The only thing I kind of liked was the music, though, it was often out of place, which is a strike against the the sound designer, if they even had one. It's pretty obvious that most of the girls used in this film are not professional actors and/or have had very little experience. It seems more like the director cast their friends or anyone they could find for free. The only two that can kind of act are Jill Bennet and Kathy DeBono, and I use the words "kind of" generously. But their performances at least don't distract too much from the story. Ashleigh Somner, the lead, vacillates between over-acting and under-acting. There were a couple moments where she seemed to play up the comedy all right...but then delved quickly back into her cartoonish, '80s sitcom style of 'trying' to act. Basically, Kimmy Gibler would have had a run for her money if Ashleigh were around back then. Another thing I did not care for in this film is its excessive and gratuitous use of sex and talking about sex as a flimsy plot device. The choreography of these scenes were also poor, not sexy, and not well thought out. I actually said "Ew," outloud, at one point, and sort of cringed at any romantic intertwining of these women. Literally, in the first scene one girl gropes the other. Is this Czechoslovakian porn or a movie? The gay community tries to portray an image that they are not perverted or more sexual than straight people, and lesbians want to be seen as more than sex objects in films, but this film promotes that lesbians are sex obsessed to the point of it revolving around almost every interaction and conversation in this film. I honestly felt like I was watching a bunch of 14-yr-old boys talking rather than grown women. Basically, just because you have a camera doesn't mean you should make a film, or, at least make it and show it to your friends at home over a bowl of popcorn like most home videos and student films are. The affordability of cameras, these days, doesn't create opportunities so much as just create more crap that people try to cart to festivals or jam down executive's throats. If not for the fact that there are so few lesbian films made, this movie would have never made it beyond YouTube. There is not a lot of lesbian film or TV out there but there is plenty more to keep you busy where you will actually enjoy your time rather than slogging through this poor attempt. 'DEBS,' 'L Word,' 'Pretty Little Liars,' 'Better Than Chocolate,' 'A Room in Rome,' and a lot of fun, great foreign films.

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• Watch "Run Lola Run" instead

  Alrock-32010-06-08

  Well, my 1st review, not gonna be long winded about it, basically one of the worst re-workings of a foreign film I've seen. "Run Lola Run", the German film this was based on was an edge of the seat, fast paced film with a true sense of urgency heightened even more by the banging techno soundtrack. What we have here is a wishy washy storyline, no urgent life or death situation like the original with a rather weak pop rock soundtrack that does nothing to enhance the drama, not that there seems to be much of that. So, to sum up, forget this & go find yourself a copy of "Run Lola Run" a true 10 out of 10 movie.

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• A rare film that's actually positive for lesbians.

  silvisweetheart2010-07-22

  I really don't understand what everybody is complaining about as pretty much every movie is a ripoff or homage of another. This one simply happens to do it in a fun, lesbian friendly fashion. I suggest actually watching it first before you write it off as 'just another rip off'. It's a rare thing to see a movie where the lesbianism isn't just tacked on as an afterthought or swept under the rug as the story progresses. There's no men ogling them throughout the movie, nobody's suicidal, nobody has sex with some random dude to spite their girlfriend (something that kills a film like this for me), and the flaws of the characters and their relationships are true to life. It manages to avoid all the pitfalls that normally plague a lesbian flick and I applaud it for that. The low point of the movie would have to be the soundtrack which, while having one or two good songs, mostly falls flat. It doesn't quite kill the mood but it certainly doesn't improve it either. On the whole it's a refreshing take on a great concept and a must see if you're looking for a lesbian flick that's actually positively reinforcing. I highly recommend giving it a look.

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• Fun comedy

  mayawhitman642010-09-18

  I enjoyed this movie and find it humorous that some are insulted that it references the classic German film "Run, Lola, Run." So what? That happens all the time. It's clearly not a "remake." The movie is silly and light and pokes fun at lesbian relationships--how refreshing. I think those not part of the community may not get the jokes, but that's OK. And, it doesn't end on a downbeat note unlike so many lesbian flicks. That in itself is refreshing. I also loved seeing San Francisco in all it's gay glory. I enjoyed the soundtrack which featured a lot of lesbian musicians and it's a nice change of pace to see actual OUT lesbian actors play the leading roles in the film. Ashleigh Sumner, Lola, was particularly solid.

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• Bin It.

  Jen-092014-01-09

  I actually watched this before I watched Run Lola Run (the German film that this is sort of based on), so my initial opinion was unbiased. Very rarely do I turn a film off but this was one of the few- I think I only made it about half an hour in. Lola's girlfriend has a job interview, she forgets her documents (or something to that effect) and Lola has to run through San Francisco to get them to her. As she is running she encounters various scenarios that get in her way- the scenarios I actually managed to sit through were ridiculous. I am trying to refrain from comparing it to Run Lola Run which I have now watched but it is hard not to. And Then Came Lola completely lacks the urgency of Run Lola Run (in which her boyfriend gets tangled up in a drug deal and loses the money he needs to pay up). This film seems to try too hard to say Look! We made a movie with lesbians in it! That also seems to be the main pro in the positive reviews of the film I've read. Although its great to see people trying to make this more the norm in movies, it would have been far better to have made an original film with a decent plot.

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