Barefoot (Andrew Fleming, 2014): USA

Reviewed by Angela Yago. Viewed at the Metro 4 Theatre, Santa Barbara.

When I saw the trailer to Barefoot, I thought that the movie would be a typical romantic comedy, a man and woman who fall in love, and it was. However, it touched me in a way that no other romantic comedy has, and I am a huge fan of those genres. The reason why I think it was so amazing was because of the humor, the surprises that not many romantic movies have and the great actors. Barefoot is definitely a film to see. It was also the best movie I saw during the film festival.

Starring Evan Rachel Woods who plays the psychiatric patient Daisy, Scott Speedman who plays the janitor Jay and J.K Simmons who plays the doctor at the psychiatric hospital. You may know Simmons from Juno and Spider-Man.

Barefoot is about a guy, his name is Jay, he is a bit of a looser in his family. He comes from a rich family and has a complicated relationship with his father. He doesn’t have a job, get’s into trouble all the time and has to do community service most of his time. He starts working at a mental hospital as a janitor where he meets Daisy. Daisy has been isolated from the outer world her entire life, she was homeschooled by her mother. She has no idea how to act in front of people and she doesn’t know how to communicate. She has been taken into the hospital because she’s mentally ill, her mother died and they suspect her to be the killer. Jay’s brother is about to get married and he decides to bring Daisy with him because he doesn’t want to go there alone. Because of Daisy’s lack of social skills, weird things happen throughout their trip to Jay’s family and at their home. Many of the moments are hilarious, when she opens her mouth and says something and his family thinks she’s joking so they just laugh. But then there’s the panic-attacks, at Jay’s brothers wedding. She is dancing with Jay’s father and he starts questioning her about Jay and their relationship. She doesn’t know how to handle it and does not know what to say, so she just falls down to the floor and panics. Jay picks her up and they leave. During their trip back home, the love between them grows and gets stronger.

This was really a feel-good movie, I was smiling almost all the time because I could feel the love and the fun of being on a adventure. But I also could feel a little bit sad at times, and that’s what it’s like when seeing a romantic movie, I get those feelings every time. The music was important because it fitted in with the emotions you were supposed to feel when seeing the movie, the music and the scenes matched really well. The reason I think it’s a feel-good movie is also because of the bright colors. Everything was so light and colorful and that gave the movie such a positive energy. I don’t feel it stood out that much when it comes to editing, it looked like any other romantic comedy. I loved the acting from both actors, they really lived up to their character and they did it very well. The love wasn’t too much and too cheesy like it can be in movies, and the fact that Evan Rachel Woods could play a role of a psychiatric girl so good and not overdoing it amazed me. It was great to see a confused and scared character turn into a more confident and happy person and building up that character throughout the film. Evan Rachel woods was amazing and hilarious!

Barefoot really made me laugh hard and feel so much love, I felt so happy and amazed when I came out from the theatre. If you love romantic comedies, then this is definitely one to see.