Film Geek

Scotty (Melik Malkasian) is a pathetic loser who’s only interest in life is film. His addiction to watching, writing and learning about movies cripples every single facet of his social life. When he loses his job, he meets a young artist named Niko, seeing her on the bus reading a Cronenberg book. How could he resist? Well, they go on meeting each other and go on a date, but his obsessive nature and the threat of an ex-boyfriend might stop his hopes of starting a relationship with Niko.
This film was painful for yours truly. I’m not crippled by it right now, but in my late teens till early twenties I was very similar to this character, a hardcore cinephile who couldn’t hold a social life or hold a conversation if it didn’t involve movies. Thankfully I grew out of it, but watching this brought back memories of the awkwardness I used to suffer, and because of it I found it endearing. Still, there’s no denying that the character of Scotty is just plain unlikeable. They could have made this film geek a little more realistically and not be such a braindead loser. I mean, even at my worst, I knew what it means to ‘experiment with other girls’ and ‘eating out’. And although the last shot drove it all back home, the girl he pines for truly is a little out of his league. Women like that would never date guys like us. Still, it has some good comedy moments, but it lacks from an interesting script and an unsatisfying final twist, which even if it might be realistic, it’s not what the movie needed. Scotty just might be the Travis Bickle of the romantic comedy.