Norman: Clitish

Accent Film Entertainment

Official Site: www.normanthemovie.com
Director(s):  Jonathan Segal
Writer(s): Talton Wingate
Producer(s):  Kim Blackburn Bowen, Rich Cowan, Dan Keston, Hawk Koch.
Starring: Dany Byrd, Emily VanCamp, Richard  Jenkins, Adam Goldberg. 99 min.

How long can  a person carry out a monumental lie? Norman (Byrd) carried his lie about having cancer until it nearly destroyed his relationships, especially the one he had with his newly found beautiful girlfriend Emily (VanCamp). Was Norman selfish for being so dishonest? After experiencing severe loss, and yet to experience more severe loss, evidently Norman was emotionally troubled.  Pretending to be a cancer patient  with only three months to live had very little to do  with the troubles at home, at least directly.  Given the context in which the lie was committed, one can criticize Norman for his dishonesty, but also acknowledge that his situation may induce erratic behavior, such as suicidal thoughts. 

Norman described himself as an "incredibly sad kid" with "nothing to look forward to." The loss he suffered along with dealing with his sick father (Jenkins) shaped Norman into  a troubled teen with a bleak outlook.     

Accent Film Entertainment

Norman conjured up the lie in a heated argument with his best friend. It was suppose to be a harmless lie, but  the lie grew faster than Norman could control. After a while Norman noticed people were nice to him because he was supposedly dying. His best friend became more understanding. One of the kids who was mean to him apologized. Norman's popularity grew but for  the wrong reason. Emily is the one person who was nice to Norman regardless if he was dying with cancer or not. However, the magnitude of the lie was such that it jeopardized the happiness he found in his relationship with Emily.

Accent Film Entertainment

Incredibly,  even when Norman faced immense pressure to confess, he carried on the lie to exhaustion. To be fair, On several occasions Norman tried to tell the truth, but it seemed people were willing to explore the tragedy of the  lie rather than accept the tragedy of the truth, which was Norman was miserable from dealing with what appeared to be an  insurmountable loss, and the  sickness of his father. The

Accent Film Entertainment

 film made a good attempt at being a dark comedic  drama. Frankly it was just dark and dramatic. The subject matter overwhelmed the film to the point one overlooks the humor. Great performances by Richard Jenkins, Emily VanCamp, and Dany Byrd. This was a truly engaging independent film. Not a masterpiece. But worth watching. Metacritic.com rated the film 60/100 with mixed reviews. Rottentomatoes.com granted the film nine fresh tomatoes to five rotten ones for a favorable review. I'll give it an 80.