Opiniones de usuarios

How do you make a movie about a young man who's so uptight around women that he won't even be alone in a room with one - and NOT make him come across as some sort of serial-killer-in-training? I don't know the answer to that question, and, apparently, neither do the people who made "Old Fashioned," a snail-paced, poorly acted, Hallmark Channel-level romantic drama that, intentionally or not, turns out to be an off-putting creep-fest.

Clay Walsh (Rik Swartzwelder, who also wrote and directed the film) is the moody antique shop owner who was once a lady-killer and frat boy in his youth, but who now spends most of his time over-thinking his life to the point where just about everyone around him - the audience included - has had it up to here with his borderline- psychotic sanctimoniousness. All, except Amber (Elizabeth Ann Roberts), that is, an attractive young woman who settles into this small Midwestern town with her cat and her dreams after her car runs out of gas there. Though she's supposedly out of money, we never see Amber actually looking for work since she's so busy trying to figure out what makes Clay tick - a full time job, in and of itself, apparently. Initially intrigued by this strange man with unorthodox ideas about love, sex and dating, Amber begins to see him less as a curiosity and more as a man of principle and honor the better she gets to know him (too bad the viewer never really comes to share that opinion of him).

About the best thing one can say about "Old Fashioned" is that its heart is in the right place and one feels almost guilty criticizing it, but, frankly, the movie is so slow-moving and talky that I could barely stay awake through large stretches of it (though there is one surprisingly thoughtful and effective scene involving a bachelor party, I will admit). Surely, there's got to be a better way of getting across the old I'm-saving-myself-for-marriage theme than this. For the problem is that, after being told what a fun, lively, energetic guy Clay was in college, then seeing what he's become now, the only conclusion we can come to is that Finding Jesus turned him into the Bore of the Century - or, at the very least, the ultimate wet-blanket, bringing down everybody's spirits along with his own. Somehow, I doubt that's what Mr. Swartzwelder had in mind when embarking on the project.

Overall, I liked this movie. It has beautiful countryside,endearing themes and an overall serene feel. But I disagree with the gimmick marketing as a 'wholesome' alternative to 50 shades of grey. It does a disservice to a quietly cute film. (And denies obvious similarities between Grey and Clay-obsessive compulsive men over compensating for perceived "badness", control freaks with strict my way or the highway dating rules, etc...just with different extreme coping mechanisms.) Which brings me back to old fashioned. It explores these themes with humor and poise, willing to make playful fun of Clay's rigid hyper religiosity and very human journey. I think the grandmother summed it up quite well at the end because extremes of any sort are more about the past than the present moment. I loved when she told him to get over himself. This movie was worth the time if only to open a discussion about the purpose of dating, using compatibility tools, finding spiritual balance/spirituality in relationships and establishing intimacy.

Update: I didn't find it purposely misogynistic just focused the male lead. I duly note that some people were offended/insulted by the paternalistic overtones. That's pretty par for the course with faith based films. And to be fair western civilization was founded on those principles (so it's comfortable for most men and women). Take it with a grain of salt as a great conversation starter on a first date to identify belief system/value compatibility. Even if it means he/she thought it was a great movie and you felt like Clay was a self righteous jerk until the end.

Let's start with our main character (and director) Clay. He is a 40+ year old man that runs an antique store while dressing like a frat boy with a surfer's haircut. Clay is so out of control of his desires that he can't even be in the same room with another woman and believes in the teaching's of a radio shock jock that says "women are stupid" (Direct quote) while desiring such power that he enforces his beliefs on others without question. Now you may think this gentleman is some kind of terroristic person attempting to impose sharia law on law abiding citizens. Surprise! Clay is a deeply religious Christian man that can't help stopping his friend's bachelor party and kicking everyone out instead of just leaving because he feels uncomfortable. Be as religious as you want, Clay, just let other people live their lives the way they would like to because this is America and that's kind of the whole idea.

The female lead is pretty charming, though, and the there are some great looking shots of the Ohio landscape, but more than anything this film is a boring lesson on how to be a preachy, controlling dick.

I saw Old Fashioned at a "sneak peek" event in Florida and was pleasantly surprised. The scenery is just beautiful and really adds to the tender, rustic feel of the whole story. And the story itself is profoundly moving. The relationship between the two main characters is something that really resonated with me. I loved the chemistry between the two characters (Clay and Amber) and found things in both that are just like me. Amber is just adorable and I'd like to find a guy like Clay in the real world. I also loved the subtle nature of this "faith-based" film. It definitely affirmed my faith and my struggles to live as a godly, single person; but, it did so without hitting me over the head with religion (so many "faith-based" films seem to treat the audience like they're idiots! We get it, already!) This isn't just a good "faith-based" film, it's a good (even if a little slow) indie film -- period. I've never seen a film quite like it.

Old Fashioned is original, honest, and compelling.

A gem of a film in the faith-based genre, it had just the right amount of tension and humor, and a wide array of perspectives on love and relationships. Swartzwelder's approach to faith, life, forgiveness and grace is refreshing for the genre and is sure to give audiences plenty to think about when the credits roll. Elizabeth Roberts is charming and magnetic. I expect to see her a lot more around Hollywood.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and can't wait to see what's next from Rik. Fathers, take your sons to this movie. Mothers, take your daughters. This is a movie worth seeing, not just because of its message, but because it's a good story, well told.

Old Fashioned begins aptly with the kind of 1950's Hollywood hokiness that came in the form of title cards, simplistic orchestration for background music, and warm and inviting cinematography to comfort and seduce the viewer so that he or she knows that everything was going to be okay. Being that this film comes distributed courtesy of Freestyle Releasing, a known distributor that releases Christian films in conjunction with Pure Flix Entertainment, I feared that this film would derail rather quickly into a petty bout of sermonizing and oversimplifications.

Pleasantly, however, only half of that is true and that half is the oversimplification. Old Fashioned, despite its religious affiliation, is not a film that sermonizes nor does it feel like a vacation Bible school film with a vacation Bible school budget. In many ways, this is a sad, deeply contemplative film about the isolation that can come with religion and personal punishment, where one's past haunts them so greatly they decide to cut themselves off from the conventions of the real world and fall prey to the dictation of the Bible. While Old Fashioned isn't that extreme, its undertones are indeed, and the result is a film that's an examination of modern relationships through a religious lens that's soft and moody.

Writer/director/producer Rik Swartzwelder in his cinematic debut plays Clay Walsh, a former frat boy, who has settled down in a sleepy Midwestern town. He runs an antique shop, leases out a building to tenants, and grounds himself in his puritanical beliefs on love, romance, and God. Clay's beliefs, which he bills as "theories," revolve around the refusal to date (because it only makes people good at dating rather than being good at talking and sharing feelings) and his refusal to kiss any woman he doesn't love. These strict, almost Quaker-like beliefs make him the butt of his coworker but loyal friend David (LeJon Woods), who stuck behind Clay's decision to mellow out following a spell of greed, deception, and rowdiness during his college days.

One day, a woman named Amber Hewson (Elizabeth Ann Roberts) runs out of gas near Clay's building and subsequently offers to rent out a place to stay for the time being. Amber takes an immediate interest to Clay's morals and "theories," and soon enough, the two bond because of their mutual state of loneliness and desire for "something different," whatever that different element may be. An admittedly corny but charming scene between the two takes place in a supermarket, with Clay and Amber meeting one another in the same aisle and proceeding to do the remainder of their shopping together. She buys sugarfree cinnamon gum and insists it can indeed be romantic and he buys wagon-wheel pasta, insisting the same although she doesn't quite believe him.

Much like Clay, Amber has a past she's driving away from, quiet literally in this case. Instead of grounding herself in hardened, old fashioned beliefs, she packs up her things and drives until she's out of gas, forming a new life where she stalled. She keeps a large jar atop her refrigerator, which she fills with spare cash throughout her stay. Once it fills up, she takes the money, buys gas, and heads out; a truly risky but ultimately free sense of life. Clay and Amber's relationship is predicated upon their trust in one another, as it should, but also their lack of knowledge of one another's past, which slowly comes to fruition through friends and acquaintances.

Old Fashioned, as an idea, sounds like yet another film from the traditional values crowd that harps on the alleged sanctity of heterosexual marriage and that love should be as picturesque as films and the media would lead you to believe it was decades ago. Yet, the mood of Old Fashioned doesn't always reflect that. Swartzwelder creates a decidedly bleak, almost dingy environment, one that's recognizable but relatively unromantic and unattractive. He paints a character who is shackled by his own religion and the boundaries set by nobody else but him that have, in turn, kept him trapped in a box for which he's growing too big. With that, as soon as he gets something that may compliment him and his hardened morals, he doesn't exactly know how to handle it without continuing to restrict himself. Clay doesn't know how to operate without self-correcting or over-correcting his mistakes until he's miserable and lonesome, and Amber, along with his friends, have been trying to show him despite being ignored and doubted.

Old Fashioned is a very potent film when it comes to its themes, but its execution in the emotional and romantic fields is about as obtuse and jarring as the latest Nicholas Sparks novels. The glaring mawkishness and overwrought sentimentality thrown in Old Fashioned, especially during its conclusion, are major detractors that turn the film from a serious depiction of loneliness into a facile one that is remedied by post-card depictions of love and romance. Had these emotional and romantic scenes been much more understated, this film would be in line with a mumblecore film that Joe Swanberg or even the brothers Duplass would make. However, the grating, contrived scenes of passion work to distract and, ultimately, cover up what this film should really be at the forefront of this film.

Religion, for all the hope, optimism, and relief it provides individuals, can isolate and hurt on a personal level and Old Fashioned shows this in a daring examination of self. It's a methodical exercise that drifts from being a contemplative introspection to introducing an ostensible duality that, in the end, doesn't seem to be too distant from our main subject. For as overwrought and incredulous as it can be, it's also surprisingly tender.

Starring: Rik Swartzwelder, Elizabeth Ann Roberts, and LeJon Woods. Directed by: Rik Swartzwelder.

I put a great deal of trust in IMDb ratings and reviews, and this Christian love story hanging just below 7/10 was more than enough encouragement for my girlfriend and I to give it a shot this Valentine's weekend. Let me advise you to do otherwise.

We received reliable reviews that this film was "not preachy", and a cut above other Christian films. I enjoyed 'The Ultimate Gift', 'Fireproof', etc. but could not choke this one down, though there was plenty of choking. We winced at each exchange between the main character and his 'predestined' love. The dialogue bluntly beats the viewer over the head with the message that Victorian-era courtship is the only proper way to interact with a woman in a laughably misogynistic presentation of our culture. In the film, simple-minded women are totally at the mercy of their man's virtue or lack thereof, and men are bound to take advantage of that unless they drink tea with their aunt periodically, or something like that. Filmmakers are free to present their message, but someone should tell Swartzwelder that a little subtlety and creativity goes a long way.

We chose not to stick around and learn more about the protagonist's dark past of Girls Gone Wild videotapes. The pretty cinematography couldn't distract from the 'Leave it to Beaver' morals, gushy prattle and suffocating veneration of gramophones, shooting hoops and wood working. Neither of us had walked out of a film before, but 'Old Fashioned' proved to be a ground-breaking film in this regard only.

This movie ranks above average for a faith-based film. It is well-written in parts, has beautiful scenery, has many songs on its sound-track, is well-acted, and uses various film techniques that I have rarely if ever seen used. My wife said the main characters had good chemistry, and I thought so, too. It was a film with many romantic moments.

That said, the pace of the movie was slow, at times painfully slow. It could have been edited to be 20-30 minutes shorter. Toward the end, it got a little preachy, which is the absolute worse part of most faith-based films since their audiences (seemingly unbeknownst to their writers) are already 99.44 percent conservative Christian. Preaching to the choir is both irrelevant and boring.

The problem for most romantic comedies is finding some realistic conflict that causes the lovers to quarrel and separate before they finally kiss and make up at the end. Unfortunately, this film did not adequately solve the problem. The conflict in this case seemed forced and therefore was unsatisfying.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie and was sorry it did not show in more cities. I had to travel to a small, Bible-belt town to see it in the theater. I think it will earn back what it cost to make, or at least it deserves to. This film fell just short of being a film one could highly recommend.

Want to see a romantic movie of two people who have absolutely no chemistry? Well this is your movie. I'm personally not a Christian but even if this movie wasn't a Christian film, it would still be horrible. None of the characters were interesting besides Clay and that was because he was so crazy and his morals made no sense. Clay can't be in a room with another woman because of a promise? Is the guy a rapist or something, it's like the guy has absolutely no self control or something. Clay is also very boring and dull but yet the character Amber finds him charming. Clay also tries and says that dating does nothing and doesn't add to a relationship. He says that what do you learn from jumping in bed and then finding out if you have anything in common after-wards, it begs the question, what kind of dates has this guy been on. Another thing I have with this movie and many other Christian movies is that it portrays all non- religious people as being douche-bags or dick heads. Besides the fact that the characters are boring, dull, and have shitty and stupid morals, the film is still bad. The film damn near put me to sleep. Nothing was interesting in this movie and I have no problems with romance films. I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone, not even my religious friends. The only way I would recommend this film is if you wanted to watch something that was so appalling and out there that it's unreal.

This movie is utter garbage. The guy comes off creepy, disturbing and frankly alarming. DO NOT WATCH THIS FILM.

This movie exceeded all expectations. It gave great insight into what a relationship can be if approached with care and in a Biblical way. The chemistry between the actors was wonderful. Clay, incredibly handsome and sweet! I couldn't love a movie much more than this. It gives me hope that one day, I could find this sort of love and stirs the soul. There is a nice touch of comedy embedded in the story, and the scenes were perfectly set up. It was hard not to get lost in the movie (in a good way)! A great choice for an anniversary, Valentine's Day, a singles get-together, or just because. It is God-honoring, which is refreshing with so much garbage out there. This has quickly become one of my favorites and I love that the director plays the lead. He acted it out the way he desired it to be, and it was perfect.

no this film is about people adhering to Christian myths, which is pathetic to say the least. They áre trying to push the Christian myths and they have no problems lying for jebus. One can wonder what persons fund this and why? Furthermore why is this garbage even made? Do they really Think that people are that stupid?

I was able to see a private screening of this Amazing movie, and it will most definitely be one that I purchase to watch over and over again! Everything comes together so beautifully, the actors, the scenes are amazing and the music is perfect! It's funny,it's serious and touched all of my emotions. (yes I cried too!!) It truly touched my heart, leaving me wanting to slow down this fast paced life we all live in,move to Ohio, adopt Aunt Zella and start living life with Old Fashioned Values. So for 115 minutes I encourage you to turn off all social media, grab some popcorn and allow yourself to enjoy a old fashioned courtship!!!

In a time where it is common place to hand out condoms in high schools, and support abortions instead of teaching abstinence, Old Fashioned was a refreshing movie. Oh that there were more men out there like Clay...more young women who are drawn to the goodness of men like Clay...Old Fashioned is not a fairy tale but what life could be like when priorities are in line with how we were created....after all "dating doesn't make us better husbands and wives, it just makes us better dates".

Highly recommend for parents with teens getting ready for the dating age.. We watched it as a family and the lessons are still being talked about.

We need more movies like this. Well written, well cast, all around great film.

What a fantastic portrayal of an alternate view of romance. The one that God intended for us. The best aspect of the film is that the protagonists are not perfect, or pale-faced virgins. They are far from that, and it makes the movie -- and its message--feel more real. The performances are surprisingly fantastic for an indie; Tyler and Clay's grandmother in particular are terrific actors. The scenery is also breathtaking, in particular for those fortunate to have grown up in the rolling hills of Ohio.

The movie is being marketed against 50 Shades, and it is an appropriate contrast. Mutual respect and a love of God are essential components of a healthy, long-term relationship. Life is reality, not fantasy. I only wish I had seen the movie when I was younger. Hopefully young adults everywhere can use the film as a how--to guide for navigating the crazy modern dating world. Thumbs up--way up!!!