''About Alex'' is a 2014 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written and directed by Jesse Zwick. The film stars

Nate Parker Nate Parker (born November 18, 1979) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has appeared in ''Beyond the Lights'', ''Red Tails'', ''The Secret Life of Bees (film), The Secret Life of Bees'', ''The Great Debaters'', Arbitrage (film), ''Arbitrage ...

Jason Ritter Jason Morgan Ritter (born February 17, 1980) is an American actor. The son of actors John Ritter and Nancy Morgan, he is known for his work in television series such as ''Joan of Arcadia'' (2003–2005), ''Gravity Falls'' (2012–2016), '' Anot ...

Maggie Grace Margaret Grace Denig (born September 21, 1983) is an American actress. She is known for playing Shannon Rutherford on the ABC television series '' Lost'' (2004–2006; 2010), Kim Mills in the '' Taken'' trilogy (2008–2014), Irina in ''The T ...

and

Max Greenfield Max Greenfield (born September 4, 1979) is an American actor and author. He appeared in recurring roles in ''Veronica Mars'' and ''Ugly Betty''. He co-starred as Schmidt in the Fox sitcom ''New Girl'', for which he received nominations at the Pri ...

. It had its world premiere at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

on April 17, 2014. Screen Media Films released it on August 8, 2014.

Plot

The titular Alex (

) dresses himself at his old family home before filling a bathtub. After getting in, he posts a tweet, after a series of unanswered phone calls to his college friend Ben (

), drops the phone into the water, and slits his wrists. After hearing about Alex’s attempted suicide, his old college friends gather at his family’s country house: Ben and Siri (

), a married couple at a career crossroads; Josh (

), a disenchanted PhD candidate; Sarah (

Aubrey Plaza Aubrey Christina Plaza (born June 26, 1984) is an American actress, comedian, and producer. She began performing Improvisational theatre, improv and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. After graduating from New York University ...

), an un-happy M&A attorney; and Isaac (

Max Minghella Max Giorgio Choa Minghella (born 16 September 1985) is a British actor. He is known for his roles in the films ''Syriana'' (2005), ''Art School Confidential'' (2006), '' Elvis and Anabelle'' (2007), ''The Social Network'' (2010), '' The Darkest ...

), a businessman from San Francisco and his date Kate (

Jane Levy Jane Colburn Levy ( ; born ) is an American actress. After attending the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, she debuted as the original Mandy Milkovich on the Showtime comedy-drama '' Shameless'' (2011). Levy left ''Shameless'' following its fir ...

), who happens to work at a suicide hotline. Sarah suggests that they watch Alex in shifts while Josh suggests they confront Alex about his near suicide. Reunited for the first time in years, old flirtations are reignited. Siri confides in Sarah that she may be pregnant, after receiving a dream job offer in Los Angeles. Josh is at a stalemate in writing his dissertation. Ben has been unable to finish his novel, and Sarah is left unfulfilled in her job as an attorney. The group is unable to clean the downstairs bathroom where Alex tried to kill himself and they rely solely on the upstairs bathroom. Sarah is hostile towards Kate because of her lingering feelings for Isaac but rekindles an old fling with Josh. Siri confides in Alex that Ben is having writer's block. While fishing, the men come across a dog whom they name Timmy, and Kate goes food shopping with Sarah. The group gets high and drunk, and Kate agrees to monitor the suicide hotline despite the fact that she is high for the first time. Ben and Siri have a serious talk about their standing as a couple when Siri admits that she may be pregnant. After dinner, Siri, Ben, Sarah, Josh, and Alex then play a drinking game that turns hostile when Josh and Ben ask Alex why he tried to kill himself, causing a shift in the group dynamic. Afterward, Sarah rejects Josh and accosts him for not committing to her during their college years. In the meantime, Siri tells Alex she feels guilty for her and Ben’s problems, and they kiss. Empowered by her confrontation with Josh, Sarah later rejects Isaac's advances after he kisses her, citing that she is over him and what he has with Kate is real. Josh and Ben have a talk when they encounter Sarah asks about Alex's whereabouts. They disperse to ensure that he has not tried another suicide attempt. Ben discovers Alex and Siri in the midst of making out (albeit clothed) and flees in Isaac’s rental car but crashes it into a tree. Meanwhile, Kate finds Isaac after a call and asks him to bed. When Sunday arrives, Isaac offers to invest in Sarah and her culinary ambitions, and they playfully dance around the idea. Alex finds Ben, whose writer's block has been broken. The two reconcile and return to the house. After they return, Ben and Siri have a discussion about their relationship. As they all prepare to return to their respective lives, Alex announces that he is going to work with Kate at the suicide prevention hotline, and Ben is staying at the house to write for a while. Before the group departs, they opt to take a group photo. Kate, after Isaac affirms his dedication to her, offers to take the photo. As the group poses, a flashback of Ben inviting Alex to their table in college appears.

Cast

as Ben *

as Alex *

as Siri *

as Josh *

as Sarah *

as Isaac *

as Kate

Release

''About Alex'' had its world premiere at the

on April 17, 2014. Shortly after it was announced Screen Media Films had acquired distribution rights to the film. The film was released in a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few cinemas across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

and through

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

on August 8, 2014.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

the film has an approval rating of 45% based on reviews by 40 critics, with an average rating of 5.52/10. The website's consensus reads: "''About Alex'' pointedly provokes comparisons to '' The Big Chill'', but the script doesn't have enough substance to support them – or give its talented cast enough to work with." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

it has a score of 45% based on reviews from 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

References

External links

* * {{Rotten Tomatoes, about_alex 2014 films 2014 drama films 2014 independent films 2010s English-language films American drama films American independent films Films scored by Joel P. West 2014 directorial debut films 2010s American films English-language drama films English-language independent films