the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5mFAc1OTVM

Prepare yourself for a weird, compelling and interesting story. Well, stories actually. The movie consists of three parts, all interconnected somehow but even though they provide some answers to your questions, ultimately you will have to come up with your own explanations. It is safe to say, the story is pretty much interactive. How?

The movie is written and directed by John August, who is known for his screenplays of the movies Big Fish, Go and  the animation Corpse Bride and the 2005 version of Charlie and Chocolate Factory. Apart from Go, all three were directed by Tim Burton.

Gary (Reynolds) is a popular yet depressed Hollywood actor. He decides to burn all his girlfriend’s stuff but ends up burning the whole house. He gets on his car, and drinks while driving. He also uses crack and sees what appear to be hallucinations: two guys sitting at the back of his car: two guys that look exactly like him, only slightly different: one wearing glasses and one with darker hair and beard (check out the poster above). Then he crashes his car, is put under house arrest and meets his over eager yet determined publicist Margaret (Melissa McCarthy). He also has an attractive neighbor Sarah (Hope Davis) – who flirts with him in interesting ways. Gary can’t quite get used to the house arrest because odd things keep happening to him. He finds notes and voices that tell him to look for number 9 and the frequency he comes across the number freaks him out. Margaret and Sarah also seem to despise each other. Sarah tells Ryan that she can get him out of the situation whereas Margaret has a very interesting explanation for what’s happening. She claims that she and Gary have been friends for a long time, only Gary doesn’t remember it. And this is only the first part of the bizarre story…

Reynolds plays three different versions of himself. The characters are all him, only with different jobs, names and styles. Melissa McCarthy and Hope Davis also appear in all the stories, again all of them playing different versions of themselves. In the second part, Reynolds plays a TV show creator/writer named Gavin who is best friends with actress Melissa (McCarthy). This time Hope Davis is called Susan, the TV executive who is helping  Gavin out with the project. Gavin is one of the “hallucinations” Gary saw in the beginning when he was driving at the beginning. Melissa and Susan have contradictory interests, just like the first part- each thinks Ryan’s character is better off without the other one in his life.

Third story is the dark-haired,bearded version Gary saw in his car. This guy is called Gabriel and he is a video games designer. In this part, Melissa McCarthy plays  Mary, Gabriel’s wife and the mother of his kid, who incidentally plays in the show. Davis plays Sierra, a woman Gabriel asks for help when their car breaks down.

Complicated?  Yes. Open to interpretations? Hell, yes. Did I give any spoilers? Trust me I didn’t give away anything more than the trailer suggests. But I didn’t mention one of the key actors, or any of the suggestions the movie makes. Trust me, you will have your surprises and theories when you watch it. It is one of the movies you might have to think about after it’s finished. Have fun. I did.

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