There are so many films out there that have potential. When you have an interesting story concept and a decent cast it’s hard not to get your hopes slightly up. Unfortunately a concept and cast can go so far when the script doesn’t nearly match your mediocre expectations of the picture resulting in a film that ‘could of, would of, should of.” Thus is the case with Danny Buday’s romantic drama 5 Star Day, starring Cam Gigandet, Jenna Malone, Brooklyn Sudano, and Max Hartman.
Jake Gibson’s (Cam Gigandet-Twilight) horoscope forecasts a perfect 5 star day the morning of his birthday. Little does he realize, his entire world is about to be turned upside down as everything that could go wrong does.
Now, determined to disprove astrology, Jake embarks on a journey to test the theory by finding three people born at exactly the same time and place as himself: Sarah Reynolds (Sucker Punch, Into the wild), Yvette Montgomery (Brooklyn Sudano) and Wesley Henderson (Max Hartman). Jake’s pursuit in finding three Astrological matches will not only test his convictions, but validate how life’s unexpected twists of fate can deliver much more than the anticipated. What he learns along the way is an important lesson about life, love, fate and destiny that will change his life forever.
Essentially, in a matter of 24 hours, Jake’s life has gone in the pooper starting with him losing his job, his girlfriend cheating on him, his car stolen and his apartment flooded. Cam Gigandet does a decent job of portraying this fed up astrological-obsessed individual by claiming multiple times that “astrology is bullshit.” While on his mission to interview his subjects and going on unlikely escapaes, Cam manages to bring a certain level of charm to the film that I didn’t expect. At times he is a little too cool for school but because of his demeanor and appearance none of his actions seem that farfetched.
Due to the premise of the film, there are a variety of issues that I had that I’d normally be able to overlook. First, while it seems that Cam is a very resourceful person how the hell did he get his hands on the addresses of the other three people born in the hospital. Getting the names is one thing but finding out where their current addresses are 23 plus years later is some private eye work and there was no ethical way to obtain them (keep in mind this project is for an ethics class). One thing is for sure, Jake is really creepy despite the honest and intellectual motives.
Additionally, while the movie itself wasn’t great, Buday’s script tarnishes everything good that it had going for it because of its extremely sappy and unfortunately predictable ending. It was actually painstaking and would have been better if the film ended right after Jake’s presentation/monologue.
Lastly, while the acting was decent, I wasn’t a
ble to handle Jena Malone’s very inconsistent performance but, more importantly, I couldn’t handle her in this role. Jena has a very youthful look to her despite actually being 28 and that was a hindrance to her character. In the film she has a child and looks like a 16 year old mother, which makes it very difficult for me to believe that she was actually supposed to be born on the same day as our protagonist. While I should be focusing more on the plot holes, I just can’t let this pet peeve of mine out of my head.
I do feel slightly bad for the film because the cover art on the DVD is absolutely terrible which means that less people are going to want to watch it. I know I personally had no interest in seeing the film because the DVD cover was reminiscent of a lifetime film and I’d never be caught dead watching those melodramatic pieces of crap. So on behalf of the key art designer, I apologize to everyone has to look at this ugly case.
As for the disc, Breaking Glass Pictures included the typical special features: A Behind the scenes featurette, Deleted Scenes, commentary with the director and cinematographer, a photo gallery and a short film by writer/director Danny Burday. If you enjoyed the movie you might as well check out the short film to see what Burday’s other work is like in comparison to this feature.
Overall, 5 Star Day is a movie you don’t need to see. It has some charm to it and I can understand why people would watch it but I believe the audience to be very limited. It’s a film targeted towards those that believe in astrology and those will be the ones who find some sort of joy in it. If you don’t believe in it or don’t like lifetime movies then this is an easy one to decline if someone ever asks if you want to watch it.
Movie Rating: A good idea with a little bit of charm but ultimately fails on too many levels (3.8/10)
DVD Rating: 4.5/10
5 Star Day was just released on DVD from Breaking Glass Pictures so if you’re into astrology you may want to consider checking it out, otherwise I’d give it a firm pass.
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