My Review of "Ode to Joy"

Ode to Joy is an interesting premise to what I think was supposed to be a romantic comedy. I don't think I could categorize it as such because there wasn't really much comedy. Still it was an interesting concept that puts a twist to the genre.

The movie starts off with the main character Charlie with his brother Cooper at a wedding. It turns out that it's their sister's wedding. There's an explanation about Cataplexy. It's an incurable condition where an individual falls into some sort of narcoleptic sleep when they're in emotional situations. Charlie so happens to have it especially when he's happy.

Needless to say, Charlie is trying not to be happy for his sister but he can't help but feel happy when they finally say I do. He then collapses and makes a huge commotion during the wedding.

The movie quickly jumps to the library that he works at. He and his coworkers talk about relationships and how he refuses to get into a relationship because he doesn't believe it can work. Immediately after he embraces his life of loneliness in walks a couple about to break up.

I thought it was clever that the guy used the library so that Francesca, the love interest in this movie, wouldn't make a scene. She makes a scene anyways and obviously Charlie helps her out. Apparently Charlie is really in tuned with people's emotions because he has to deal with his own to stay alive.

Then you have your usual cat and mouse game of boy meets girl. It's a little different because she wants a relationship with him but he's not willing to because of his condition. I know that he's lived his whole life with disappointment in that regard but it doesn't seem that he even tried that many times. It was kind of really weird but I went with the movie.

There is another character that enters the story later named Bethany. She's quite a weird character but pretty interesting as well. I liked how they played around with her character but the crap she's put through is ridiculous. I'm not sure many people would have put up with the stuff that she's put through.

I know Charlie is the main character and we're supposed to have sympathy for him because he suffers from such a horrible condition. The thing is there were points that I felt like he doesn't deserve to have such a good situation. He really is kind of a horrible person in a way. I just didn't like his negative attitude throughout the movie. Yes I understand that if someone lived with such a condition they might turn out that way but really I don't see people even wanting to talk to him.

There are some bright sides to the movie. I liked how he genuinely finds a lot of the world to be beautiful. He's constantly trying to block away all of them with headphones and uttering negative things to himself. That was a nice touch and I think there is some comedy to that.

Still I didn't find this movie all that funny. There were a few chuckles here and there but really wasn't that funny. That doesn't mean it wasn't fun to watch. I did have some fun watching the movie but I didn't like how Charlie was using people to get his way. I thought his character was very manipulative and conniving.

Overall, there are a few points that were fun and I thought the concept of the movie was interesting. Still the main character Charlie kind of got on my nerves a few times. It kind of threw me off but overall I would say this is still a viewable movie. I have to give this movie a 6.5 out of 10. Only watch this movie if you're really bored. I wouldn't really recommend this movie to many people.