This is a pretty funny movie. James Franco is quite a comedian, which you wouldn't know from seeing some of his darker, brooding roles. Go into it keeping in mind it is a dark comedy, mostly conversational piece, indie, odd story. Harry (Franco) rents an apartment so he can get a break from his distracting family life and finally put pen to paper. The big catch is that a gorilla is already living at the apartment. The gorilla is an actor in a suit, not a real live gorilla, which I guess I would've realized was the case if I'd looked more closely at the cover art. At first I was disappointed, because I expected there would be a real monkey in the movie. I quickly got over that because the actor in the gorilla suit was quite funny and crude.
It does get a bit repetitive and there are very few locations, so I did begin getting bored mid-way through after my initial reaction to the uniqueness of the story began to wear off. I imagine it was a hilarious stage play (which it was adapted from), but I do think it probably loses some of its charm in translation to the screen. I believe it was a one-act play, so they had to "pad" the story a bit to make it long enough to be a movie. It probably would be strongest in one-act length (45 minutes or so).
Overall, it is unique and I laughed out loud many times. You can watch it and analyze some "deeper" meaning because there are definitely layers of metaphor throughout the story or you can just watch it and laugh.
It does get a bit repetitive and there are very few locations, so I did begin getting bored mid-way through after my initial reaction to the uniqueness of the story began to wear off. I imagine it was a hilarious stage play (which it was adapted from), but I do think it probably loses some of its charm in translation to the screen. I believe it was a one-act play, so they had to "pad" the story a bit to make it long enough to be a movie. It probably would be strongest in one-act length (45 minutes or so).
Overall, it is unique and I laughed out loud many times. You can watch it and analyze some "deeper" meaning because there are definitely layers of metaphor throughout the story or you can just watch it and laugh.