Cinequest Review: Sunnyvale

SFist is still thinking about Sunnyvale, which we saw at Cinequest last night. We decided to go to this movie because, well ok, the title was a draw, and it is also described as a sort of darkly comic talky relationship movie which we often enjoy. But we're just puzzled by it. There was a lot of talking - some of it funny, much of it stilted, we think unintentionally. It wasn't very romantic but it was about relationships. But we just... we don't know.

What might be for many men the ultimate fantasy - having three women, including two lesbians, who want to sleep with you so much they'll schedule themselves on your calendar - is kind of a nightmare for uber-loser Ricardo. Or is it? He's so passive in the whole thing, making about the only move of the entire series of events when he gives up junk-food for salad, it's hard to tell. Is he enjoying it, playing it cool or just seriously depressed. Impossible to tell. Frustratingly so.

The writer/director James Ricardo also starred in the movie and he was definitely the weakest of the actors. So it was hard to tell if it was just wooden acting that make Ricardo, the character, so passive or if he was intended to be. Talking to other filmgoers about it afterwards, we all seemed confused. No one really disliked it but everyone seemed unsure if they liked it really, or if they just wanted to like it.

The screening we saw was the last of Sunnyvale at Cinequest, but we're really interested to hear if any of our readers saw it and what they thought. Let us know in the comments.