Touchy Feely - A Movie Review

Only you can change.

Touchy Feely is a 2013 film. Developing a sudden aversion to touch, a massage therapist is no longer taking clients until she figures out the problem. Meanwhile, a dentist figures out that he has a healing touch for his patients.

Lately, I have been on a binge to watch films directed by Lynn Shelton. Her films have intricate tones, presenting realistic themes audiences can relate to. Except, Touchy Feely is lost in its premise, unsure of what its focus is.

Touchy Feely stars great talents. Rosemarie Dewitt, Elliot Page, Josh Pias, and Scoot McNairy are all excellent. Allison Janney has a small role. Janney is a great character actress. While each character has its own storyline, I would have changed who the main focus was.

Abby (Dewitt) develops an aversion to touch that is so bad to the point that seeing skin makes her sick to her stomach. Abby’s full story is not constructed sufficiently to really understand why she is going through this predicament. Her story deserved a different outcome to better portray her conflict.

That’s not all. You’d think that we’d spend time with Abby figuring out this issue, but instead, we have to follow this weird dentist scenario involving Abby’s brother, Paul. To start, Paul (Pias) is a very awkward man. He is unsure of himself. He is also very slow. Pias was humorous in his strange gimmicks, but I was not fond of his character.

Was his newfound dentistry technique magic or because he gained confidence himself? It’s possible that Paul’s healing was all in their heads. It’s not explained. This storyline did not belong in the film. It didn’t connect with the storyline.

The only character who had a story was Jenny (Page). We don’t get to explore her story. We only get fragments and a potential romance that would have been more interesting to watch than Abby trying to figure out why she is so repulsed by touch. Implying that Jenny feels lost, at one point she runs off sobbing.

Abby, Jenny, and Jesse should have been the only characters. Oh yes, and Henry (Tomo Nakayama), Jenny’s friend and possible love interest. Henry has little screentime and yet I felt like I knew him. Henry’s concert was my favorite scene in the whole film.

Hardly any time is spent with Jesse when he is the one asking Abby about their relationship. Was Abby’s touch aversion meant to signify that she wasn’t ready for the next step in her relationship?

Touchy Feely is a slow film. Normally, that doesn’t bother me. The film was still clearly in its writing process. There are too many dinner conversation scenes. The characters talk about everyday things. Not the situations at hand!

Shelton spent more time on these sequences along with characters thinking about their problems than the actual moral of the story. A multitude of scenarios could have been explored like the difference between careers in massage therapy and dentistry.

The relationships deserved more focus to make them work. Somehow everyone’s problems are resolved without anyone talking. I thought that was the whole point of the film. Instead of talking to Jesse, a random character appears in Abby’s story to help her understand her problem.

Aside from the weak story, the editing was the best part. The transitions did a good job of reflecting the moods. Scenes are quick, one of Shelton’s trademarks in filmmaking.

Touchy Feely is not Shelton’s best work. You can check it out if you want. The acting is the best part of the film.