Cas and Dylan – Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)

Overview

An unlikely pairing forge a friendship, one which seemingly is only forged because one got sick and tired of telling the other to leave.

Review (with Spoilers)

With Orphan Black being one of my favorite shows, naturally I would want to see Tatiana Maslany be in something else between the seasons. And while she does guest star on other shows, unfortunately those are shows I’m just not into. So finding out she is in a movie is quite a treat. Though I can’t say the movie itself is one.

Characters & Story

Dylan (Tatiana Maslany) is an eccentric girl who is very outgoing and has dreams of becoming a professional writer. Dr. Cas Pepper (Richard Dreyfuss) is a widow, very straight laced and plain, and just wants to spend the rest of his life in some peace. So, how do these two meet? Well, in Dylan’s pursuit of understanding suffering, she decides to observe the patients at the hospital where Dr. Pepper works at. Then, with her seeing him intently writing something, thinking he is a fellow writer, she decides to force her way into his life, without an invitation, and as many times as he tries pushing her out, or outright abandoning her, something keeps bringing these two opposites together. Leading to, eventually, Dr. Pepper giving up on trying to live the rest of his life in peace, and just learning to deal with, accept, and eventually come to love this odd young lady who has somehow found a place within his heart.

Praise

When the film has perhaps 20 to 30 minutes left and the manic personality of Dylan and depressive personality of Cas start to get balanced out, the movie becomes slightly ok. For with them both revealing what the near future holds for them, you begin to actually get a sense that the characters are finally getting developed. We see Dylan’s fears for her future and the lack of hope Cas has in his, and after their friendship and interactions stop seeming so forced, you finally get some sense that these two could actually intermingle without Cas trying to abandon Dylan the first chance he gets.

Criticism

But until that point in the movie where both characters seem to become human, Dylan presents herself as a highly annoying character and Cas’ personality is seemingly made to compensate her nature by coming off as boring as possible. Now, as for how annoying Dylan is? Well, with her being a 20 something year old who lounges around a hospital to try to vicariously suffer; someone who never shuts up, or says anything intriguing; and also pretty much forces her way into Cas’ life, but seems ready to abandon it when she realizes what he can’t give her is fun and games anymore, it makes the majority of the time we spend with Dylan to be a test of patience. Though what makes things worse is that you don’t really get any real sort of backstory when it comes to Dylan to even really understand her.

A problem Cas also has for his backstory also is ignored. But it is a bigger tragedy for Cas’ character since we are introduced to his former wife and with him being a doctor it really seems like he could have been given some depth. As opposed to what the film decides to waste time on which is us thinking Cas may have accidently murdered Dylan’s boyfriend. Much less the constant back and forth of Cas not wanting Dylan around him and then him allowing her to return with him seemingly regretting the decision as soon as it is made.

Overall: Skip It

Though the last half hour or so of the film was far better than what preceded it, unfortunately it isn’t a complete 180 degree turn which makes the film worth watching. If anything: the climax of the film leads to a rushed development of the characters, which feels sort of shallow. For after us seeing Cas push away Dylan constantly, him suddenly feeling for the girl, and acting like a father figure because she faced disappointment just seemed a bit weird. If just because they waited so long to turn him into such a figure that it felt a little too little too late. Hence the “Skip It” label for the film tries to do a last minute save, but it is so below average throughout that to recommend this for anything besides background noise for a nap would mean I was getting paid to write this.