Dopamine
¶ by Rob Friesel
Just don’t. Our new subscription to Blockbuster’s DVD-by-mail-to-compete-with-Netflix plan has us high on the opportunity to cheaply take risks on films we’d otherwise normally stay away from. Anyway, imagine our conflict…
With a title like Dopamine, how could we possibly stay away? But with a description like:
…In San Francisco during the economic heyday of computer technology, Rand (John Livingston) works as a software designer. […] Rand’s love life hasn’t been very productive, especially because his father (William Windom) has been repeatedly telling him that love is just a series of chemical reactions […] One day, Rand […] meets preschool teacher Sarah (Sabrina Lloyd), whom he feels strongly attracted to. […] Despite their differing opinions on the chemical nature of love, Rand and Sarah begin a romance that puts their theories to the test…
Well, Dopamine is worth a shot, eh?
It had its chance.
There are a few clever lines (“He always questions human nature and you always take advantage of it…”) and a few neat shots but overall we’re left feeling disappointed. We’ve got a story with a lot of promise that doesn’t fully explore its content and has jabs that are either too subtle (at least for a casual, non-scientific audience), too over the top, or otherwise unresolved in that superfluous and vaguely irrelevant sort of way.
One question: What’s with the municipal vehicles motif? (Or am I just imaging something there?)
I wanted to like this one, I really did. But I regret to inform you, gentle reader, that it’s DOA.
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