Review: ‘Almost Friends’ is Almost Great

Almost Friends

Theatrical Release: November 17, 2017

On Demand & Digital HD: November 17, 2017

Guest review from Reel Reviews Over Brews

Once a promising young chef, Charlie (Freddie Highmore) is now an unmotivated twenty-something who lives at home with his mom (Marg Helgenberger) and stepfather while working at a small movie theatre and living vicariously through his best friend, Ben (Haley Joel Osment). His life takes an unpredictable turn however, when he finds himself falling for local barista Amber (Odeya Rush). Problem is, Amber has her own distractions – her mooching roommate (Jake Abel), a track star boyfriend (Taylor John Smith), and steadfast plans to move to New York City. On top of that, Charlie’s estranged father (Chris Meloni) unexpectedly re-enters his life just as he begins to take a long, hard look at where he’s going and who he wants to be. With conflict after conflict piling on, will Charlie reach his tipping point or will he finally find the path forward?

Without looking it up, can you remember the last movie you saw Freddie Highmore in? August Rush is the movie we were thinking. Although we find it hard for him to top his performance in August RushFreddie played the part of Charlie well. A little awkward, but that is exactly what the role called for. It’s nice seeing that he didn’t become another washed up childhood actor. Speaking of… Haley Joel Osment… What ever happened to him you ask? We occasionally wonder the same thing until he pops up as a character actor in Almost Friends or even TuskOdeya Rush (who we think looks like Mila Kunis) is one of the brightest spots in this movie. We’ve only seen her in Almost Friends and Goosebumps, but we liked her in both. Keep an eye out for her in the future. We predict her to be another up and coming star. Looking at some of the big names this cast provides, we would have expected the movie to be a little better. Now, we say a little better because we didn’t hate Almost Friends at all. We actually found ourselves to enjoy this movie about life and how fast/hard it can hit you. Sure it had its moments when a scene felt drawn out, but it also had some laugh out loud moments and a few that felt all to real. By the end of the film we found ourselves feeling pretty good and for that reason Almost Friends is almost great.

Reel ROB Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars

Post Credits Scene: No

We want to thank our friends at Reel News Daily for allowing us to do this guest review!

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