单身剩蛋

　　一部充满家庭温馨情感的作品，主要讲述了父亲和女儿奇幻般的交换了身体，不得不使用对方的身体生活，在现实中遭遇各种不便的同时，也逐渐更深刻地理解对方，重新找回被遗忘的亲情的故事

　　影片是一部极具东北喜剧风格元素的爆笑大戏,在幽默直接的喜剧语言表达下,立体的刻画出小人物在面对命运挫折时的无奈与妥协。

　　兰道尔·朴将首度担任导演，执导路边风景影业新片《短板》。该片改编自艾德里安·托米恩创作的同名漫画，托米恩也将为该片撰写剧本。原著漫画聚焦旧金山湾区的三个年轻亚裔美国都市人——Ben Tanaka、Miko Hayashi与Alice Kim，他们在一系列人际关系中游刃有余，为寻找理想的情感共鸣而穿越全美国。场景设定在咖啡馆、酒吧和卧室里，他们的故事以赤裸裸的坦诚和犀利的幽默相互碰撞与交织。

　　肥胖、粗俗而不失善良的50多岁男人基曼（杰拉尔·德帕迪约 Gérard Depardieu 饰）住在母亲花园旁的房车里，平时打理菜园，和朋友们泡小酒吧，时而和年轻女友安妮特（索菲·吉耶曼 Gisèle Casadesus 饰）在小窝里浪漫温存，过着平静的生活。然而，他的内心却有着不为人知的脆弱和苦楚，母亲在不想要他的情况下怀上了他，从来不知道父亲是谁；老师因为他的愚笨嘲弄；哥们儿喜欢他却又常常嘲笑他。女友想要个孩子，他却因自卑一直不肯答应，导致两人关系紧张。
　　有一天，基曼在公园里遇到了一边养着鸽子一边在大声读小说章节的玛格丽特（吉赛勒·卡扎德絮 Gisèle Casadesus 饰），他荒芜的脑袋里开始萌芽。知识渊博的玛格丽特是一个退休的农艺学家，几乎花了她一生的时间用来周游世界和阅读文学作品。从此，基曼把午后的时间交给了玛格丽特的阅读......

　　迈克尔（斯蒂芬·罗伯特森 Steven Robertson 饰）在很小的时候就因为患上了小儿麻痹症而全身瘫痪，生活不能自己的他居住在专门收容残障人士的康复中心里，虽然生活起居都有人照顾，但没有人能够理解迈克尔抽象的语言，迈克尔一直生活在孤独之中。
　　一天，一位名叫罗伊（詹姆斯·麦卡沃伊 James McAvoy 饰）的病友走进了迈克尔的生活，罗伊同样也是全身瘫痪，仅有右手可以活动。然而，和其他的病人不同，罗伊思维敏捷，开朗乐观，更神奇的是，他似乎可以理解迈克尔想要表达的语言。罗伊的出现给迈克尔灰暗的生活带来了一丝色彩，让他重新对人生产生了希望。

　　1968年的克罗地亚，一座看似平静却又十分开放的小镇因为一位大人物行将到来的消息掀起波澜，17岁的少年因而被寄予厚望，他的人生似乎也前途坦荡。但在徐徐的夏季夜风中，少年却因一些私密的难言之隐即将放弃这次比赛，但是母亲时常讲述的一个神秘的夜之女王的故事始终徘徊在他的心中，他也一直在向往着找到自己的夜之女王。令人吃惊的是，小镇上“小有名气”一个妓女竟然成为了他的“女王”，而他的难言之隐竟然也被一并治愈，同时一举参加比赛夺得了冠军！这位神秘的夜之女王到底是一个什么样的女人，而我们的夜之女王又在哪里呢？

　　Fraught with over obvious symbolism, Hartley's early feature is nonetheless a joy to watch. Hal here shows us his uncanny ability to cast his characters perfectly came early in his career.
　　Adrienne Shelley is a near perfect foil to herself, equal parts annoying teen burgeoning in her sexuality (though using sex for several years) obsessed with doom and inspired by idealism gone wrong she is deceptively – and simultaneously – complex and simple. Her Audrey inspires so many levels of symbolism it is almost embarrassingly rich (e.g., her modeling career beginning with photos of her foot – culminating her doing nude (but unseen) work Manhattan move Europe trip her stealing, then sleeping with the mechanics wrench, etc.)
　　As Josh, Robert Burke gives an absolutely masterful performance. A reformed prisoner/penitent he returns to his home town to face down past demons, accept his lot and begin a new life. Dressed in black, and repeatedly mistaken for a priest, he corrects everyone ("I'm a mechanic"), yet the symbolism is rich: he abstains from alcohol, he practices celibacy (is, in fact a virgin), and seemingly has taken on vows of poverty, and humility as well. The humility seems hardest to swallow seeming, at times, almost false, a pretense. Yet, as we learn more of Josh we see genuineness in his modesty, that his humility is indeed earnest and believable. What seems ironic is the character is fairly forthright in his simplicity, yet so richly drawn it becomes the viewer who wants to make him out as more than what he actually is. A fascinatingly written character, perfectly played.
　　The scene between Josh and Jane (a wonderful, young Edie Falco . . . "You need a woman not a girl") is hilarious . . . real. But Hartley can't leave it as such and his trick, having the actors repeat the dialogue over-and-over becomes frustratingly "arty" and annoying . . . until again it becomes hilarious. What a terrific sense of bizarre reality this lends the film (like kids in a perpetual "am not"/"are too" argument).
　　Hartley's weaves all of a small neighborhood's idiosyncrasies into a tapestry of seeming stereotypes but which delves far beneath the surface, the catalyst being that everyone believes they know what the "unbelievable truth" of the title is, yet no two people can agree (including our hero) on what exactly that truth is. A wonderful little movie with some big ideas.