3 out of 5

Directed by: Brin Hill

I’m giving this flick a lot more credit than it’s due.

I’m not a Whedon-ite.  However, I can’t deny the man’s penchant for witty dialogue and a good setup.  In film, that’s translated to some under-appreciated sci-fi flicks (Titan A.E., Alien: Resurrection), and on television, as long as a show is given time to warm up, Whedon (and his team of regulars) can normally guide it somewhere riveting.  Joss wrote the script for ‘In Your Eyes’ in the 90s, and it apparently went through several rewrites.  One might question why it sat for so long… and the end result suggests that he had his idea, but not much clue where to take it.  While I’d say director Brin Hill’s guidance of his actors was solid – we’re dealing with rom-com stereotypes but Rebecca (Zoe Kazan) and Dylan (Michael Stahl-David) come across as real enough, with the supporting plot point characters equally smoothed out – the actual camerawork (done digitally) is at times standard and boring, and at other times disgustingly push-in close-up over-indie.  The film just doesn’t have a strong visual style, in other words (or looks amateur, in less kind words), and the sorta grating ‘touching’ soundtrack doesn’t help.  But for whatever reason, I went in to ‘In Your Eyes’ with rather low expectations; I figured the success of the film would rely on whether or not the actors could turn Whedon’s script into chuckles and heart-string pluckings.  Which they do.  Rebecca and Dylan “share” senses – sight, touch, smell – though they lead completely separate lives in New Hampshire and New Mexico, respectively.  This is first shown to us during a sledding accident in Rebecca’s childhood, which Dylan frighteningly feels (and is similarly knocked unconscious by), and then we flash forward to present day: Rebecca is married and listless, Dylan is out on parole and listless.  They rediscover their abilities, figure out how to use it, then become the best of friends over the next hourish meet-cute minutes.  But ‘Becca’s husband thinks she’s crazy and Dylan’s friends want him to be a criminal again.  What’s a pair of ill-fated lovers ta do?  Apparently piss on the last twenty minutes or so of the movie.  But that is how these happy ending flicks go, and I admittedly laughed at the Whedonisms and whimsy of our cute leads’ getting-to-know-ya’ interactions.  It’s all setup without much meat, but thanks to a slightly more 3-dimensional cast than usual, ‘In Your Eyes’ coasts by.