The Brass Teapot Review

I'll admit that I only heard about this movie because I absolutely love Juno Temple and would (and pretty much have) see anything she is in purely because of her. I really liked her in Atonement (though she didn't have a huge role, and it was early in her career) and have always kept an eye on her since. She's been in a fair amount of alright movies, but last year's Killer Joe really made her stand out in my mind, so I've been keeping on top of her new releases. The Brass Teapot is her first of many exciting releases of 2013 (shut up, it didn't come out in 2012!)

So, the movie is a pretty simple, but original concept. It's about a married couple who come across a brass teapot that give money whenever they hurt themselves. Juno Temple plays Alice, the all to willing wife in this relationship. Michael Angarano (aka that kid from Sky High) plays her husband, who is less quick to jump on the bandwagon of beating the shit out of themselves. High jinks ensue and lessons are learned. 

It took me a few days to actually decided if I actually liked this movie or not. I finally decided that I did. There are a lot of aspects of this film that don't quite do it for me, but for the most part, I think it all works. 

The acting in this film coupled with the excellent and original script is mostly what does it for me. I thought that the pairing of Temple and Angarano was brilliant. They play off of each other really well, and make every scene work great. I especially liked some of the supporting cast which include great actresses like Alexis Bledel (Gilmore Girls) and Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development). I thought everyone delivered great performances, and though some of the physical humor didn't hit as well as they had hoped, I thought it was all really well done. 

The script for this movie was great in terms of originality. I thought it presented a very common issue (greed) and gave a clever spin on it and actually had a great moral at the end. I think the biggest downfall of the script was the fact that some of the dark humor didn't come across as humor well enough. They really toed the line between drama and comedy and some of it didn't quite land where they wanted it to. But, overall, the script was really good, and I definitely enjoyed it.

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This movie is definitely worth seeing at least once. Temple and Angarano give great performances that are hilarious and also gut-wrenching. The script is original, even if it is sometimes predictable. The direction is nothing special, but doesn't detract from the good parts of the movie. 

Writing: 7/10

Directing: 4/10

Acting: 7/10

Pacing: 5/10

Rewatchability: 5/10

Score: 5.6/10