In Your Eyes Review

     Usually, writers and directors find a style they are good at and stick with it; Joss Whedon is not one of those people. He's mostly known for his sci-fi/fantasy ventures such as acclaimed TV shows like "Firefly," and "Buffy: The Vampire Slayer," as well as one of the highest grossing movies of all time "The Avengers;" these types projects are his bread and butter, but he isn't afraid of traveling out of his comfort zone. Some of his other writing credits include "Toy Story," "Cabin in the Woods," and "Much Ado About Nothing." This time, he's written something pretty far out in left field; fortunately like almost all of Whedon's work, it's very good.

     "In Your Eyes" can best be described as a paranormal romantic comedy, but as weird as that sounds it actually works. The film revolves around two parallel individuals; a young woman in a loveless marriage living in New Hampshire named Rebecca, and an ex-con trying to get his life together living in New Mexico named Dylan. Both of them were born with something special, they can communicate telepathically and see out of each other's eyes. They have never met each other and live on opposite sides of the country, but for some reason they have always been connected. There's no way to explain it, it just is. After some time, the two develop a friendship. With no one in their lives they can be really honest with, they see this as an opportunity to get close to someone; but after a while it becomes more than a friendship. They both start to fall in love, especially Dylan. This puts Rebecca in a particularly tricky situation; choose between the man she's married to, or the man she truly loves.

     "In Your Eyes" is a strange film to say the least, but at the same time it's a beautiful film with a touching love story. One of my favorite aspects of the film would have to be the main characters, they're both very likable and you just want them to succeed. It's been a while since I rooted for the main characters the way I did for those in this movie. It also helps the actors did great jobs in their roles. One of the most notable aspects of the movie would be the writing, even though it's something different you can still see Whedon's finger prints all over the script; it manages to be sincere and heartfelt, while interjecting enough humor to keep the film lighthearted. It can get a little cheesy here and there and is somewhat text book love story by the end, but manages to keep you interested throughout. The overall plot of the movie is actually very interesting and rather original, unfortunately with that comes its biggest flaws. It's hard to explain, but it just felt that they tried really hard to make this movie unique. I can imagine Joss Whedon sitting in a room writing it thinking, "How has a love story not been told? I know, we'll tell it through telepathy." The movie just ends up coming off as little desperate for originality; but what bothered me the most is that they don't explain anything in this movie. You have these two people who have psychic links, but they never really talk about it after they discover their ability. They just use it to have phone conversations; I understand wanting to keep it somewhat mysterious, but I wish they would have at least acknowledged that it was weird and delved a little deeper into it. While "In Your Eyes" has its flaws, at the end of the day it manages to do more right than wrong. This has been the most delightful movie I've seen so far this year, as well as one of its biggest surprises. I went into this movie knowing almost nothing about it, and came out of it with a smile on my face and a warm feeling in my stomach. "In Your Eyes" is a joy from start to finish, and is a movie I already want to watch again.

Pros: Funny and sincere, good acting all around, interesting and unique plot, beautiful love story, very likable main characters. 

Cons: Can get cheesy, doesn't explain much, tries a little too hard to be original, predictable towards the end.

4/5 Stars