Meet Bill

Alright...my sister has this obsession with upcoming actor Logan Lerman, hence the hype and reason I went to see Percy Jackson (although between you and me, I wanted to see it because - unlike my sister - I am interested in Greek mythology and I bought the book for me to read - even if I bought for her birthday present, hey! I was interested!). But anyway...the reason I'm really talking about Lerman is because he's in this movie.

In one of my sister's rants she commented that Lerman had a character who didn't have a name, which got my attention because my friend Abs was going through character no-names for her Extension 2 English Major Work last year. She literally had characters like, "He" and "She"...well Abs, get this, Lerman's character is just "The Kid" - which also happens to be a movie starring Bruce Willis...but anyway...


Meet Bill starring: Aaron Eckhart, Jessica Alba, Elizabeth Banks and Logan Lerman

Ever had a time in your life where you knew you were just like, "This...S.U.C.K.S" Yep, we've all been there, but meet Bill (Eckhart). His 30-something years old, he works in a bank - for his father-in-law and his brother-in-law, has no kids, realising his body's not as it use to be - oh! and he just found out his wife (Banks) is cheating on him. Yeah - THAT sucks.

But because life seems to know how to set itself right, Bill is thrown into the hands of a Mentoring program with a local high school, where things get a little interesting. Thrown out of his own house forced to put up a tent in his brother's backyard, Bill begins a journey to self discovery with the help of his mentoree (Lerman) and his friend Lucy (Alba).

During this search for who "Bill really is", he finds that the he had been the Mentoree all along. But when Bill realised who Bill was, he in turn left his own message for his Mentor, "I don't want you to float through life like nothing matters, 'cause trust me, you're going to wake up one day and realise you don't have the life you want." It's a message for us all.



What I like about this movie was that it created this balance of unrealistic and realistic circumstances. There were times where I was like, "As if...!"or, "I bet you Logan Lerman's character is actually a pigment of this guys imagination." But he wasn't, then I realised, sometimes, it takes someone honesty and bluntness to open up our eyes to the reality of the blind direction we've been waking.

Sometimes someone has to say, "No." or "This SUCKS!" or "You deserve better." In order for us to realised that we're stuck in a rut, and the only way to be happy even for just a second, is to get out and meet ourselves again - find out what made us love living life in the first place.

I also loved the comedic aspect to it, and the combination of Alba's shy and nice character and Lerman's perverse and cocky character brought a great contrast to the mundane life that Eckhart's character goes through. When Bill was with Lucy and the Kid, he was happier and freer and saw things in a different light. Lucy, in tern, was a medium between the melancholy Bill and the free-to-be Kid; she was the pinnacle of going through life and being secure with a job that pays her bills and is secure of her friends. She shows Bill how life can be lived regardless of the bard circumstances, if you learn to have fun, but she also teaches the Kid that even though fun can have a price tag, friends shouldn't.

stricklyLeisure rating: 4 and 1/2 Stars

Be prepared - there's a scene which should NOT be seen by eyes under the age of 15.

Next on stricklyLeisure: "Forgive Me..." Why the next few feature film may all have Logan Lerman in them.