Touchy Feely
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''Touchy Feely'' is a 2013 film directed by
Lynn Shelton Lynn Shelton (August 27, 1965 – May 15, 2020) was an American filmmaker, known for writing, directing, and producing such films as '' Humpday'' and '' Your Sister's Sister''. She was associated with the mumblecore genre. Early life Shelton was ...
and stars
Rosemarie DeWitt Rosemarie Braddock DeWitt (born October 26, 1971) is an American actress. DeWitt played Emily Lehman in the Fox television series '' Standoff'' (2006–07), co-starring with her future husband Ron Livingston, as well as Charmaine Craine on '' U ...
as a massage therapist who develops a phobia to touching skin. Other cast members include
Allison Janney Allison Brooks Janney (born November 19, 1959) is an American actress. Known for her performances across the screen and stage, she has received List of awards and nominations received by Allison Janney, various accolades, including an Academy A ...
,
Ron Livingston Ronald Joseph Livingston (born June 5, 1967) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Peter Gibbons in ''Office Space'' (1999) and Captain Lewis Nixon III in the miniseries ''Band of Brothers (miniseries), Band of Brothers'' (2001). Liv ...
,
Scoot McNairy John "Scoot" McNairy (born November 11, 1977) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in films such as '' Monsters'' (2010), ''Argo'', ''Killing Them Softly'' (both 2012), '' Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice'' (2016), '' Speak No Evil' ...
,
Elliot Page Elliot Page (formerly Ellen Page; born February 21, 1987) is a Canadian actor, producer, and activist. He is known for his leading roles across Canadian and American film and television, and for his outspoken work as an activist for LGBTQ righ ...
and
Josh Pais Joshua Atwill Pais (born June 21, 1958) is an American actor and acting coach. He has appeared in the films ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' (1990), ''Music of the Heart'' (1999), ''Assassination of a High School President'' (2008), '' I Saw the ...
. The film premiered at the
2013 Sundance Film Festival The 2013 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 17, 2013, until January 27, 2013, in Park City, Utah, United States, with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah, Ogden, Utah, and Sundance, Utah. The festival had 1,830 volunteers. Films A r ...
where it was nominated for the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic, and was released on September 6, 2013. It gained a mixed critical reception, and grossed over $36,000 in the United States.


Plot

Abby, a massage therapist, develops an aversion to skin shortly after her boyfriend Jesse asks her to move in with him. She takes a temporary leave of absence from work. Her disgust begins to affect her relationship with Jesse, as she cannot bring herself to touch him or be touched. After Abby suggests to Jesse that they take some
ecstasy Ecstasy most often refers to: * Ecstasy (emotion), a trance or trance-like state in which a person transcends normal consciousness * Religious ecstasy, a state of consciousness, visions or absolute euphoria * Ecstasy (philosophy), to be or stand o ...
she got from Bronwyn, she decides not to move in with Jesse. Abby's brother Paul struggles financially as the family
dentistry Dentistry, also known as dental medicine and oral medicine, is the branch of medicine focused on the Human tooth, teeth, gums, and Human mouth, mouth. It consists of the study, diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases, dis ...
practice is dwindling and he refuses to advertise to attract new patients. When his daughter Jenny invites her friend Henry in for a routine teeth-cleaning, Paul is displeased. However, Paul manages to accidentally cure Henry's
temporomandibular joint dysfunction Temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMD, TMJD) is an umbrella term covering pain and dysfunction of the muscles of mastication (the muscles that move the jaw) and the temporomandibular joints (the joints which connect the Human mandible, mand ...
and news of his healing powers begins to attract new clients. Inspired by the outpouring of enthusiasm from his patients, he visits Abby's friend Bronwyn in order to learn
Reiki Reiki is a pseudoscientific form of energy healing, a type of alternative medicine originating in Japan. Reiki practitioners use a technique called ''palm healing'' or ''hands-on healing'' through which, according to practitioners, a " unive ...
to better help his clients. After a disgruntled patient collapses in the waiting room while screaming that Paul is a fraud, his fortunes reverse and the other patients disappear. Upset at watching her father revert to his former self, Jenny runs out of the office crying. Abby leaves Jesse a break-up note and moves in with her brother. She takes an ecstasy pill and wanders through a park. Her ex-boyfriend, Adrian sees her and takes her to his grandmother's home, while there she is able to touch him. Paul finds the remaining ecstasy tablet and he takes it while waiting for Jenny to return. He wanders through the city, eventually ending up at Bronwyn's home, where they kiss. Jenny goes to Jesse's apartment and invites him to attend Henry's music concert with her. Afterwards, they go back to his apartment, where Jenny asks him to kiss her; he refuses, telling her he loves Abby. Jenny falls asleep at his home. The next morning they are awoken by a knock at the door from Abby, who is able to hug Jesse.


Cast

*
Rosemarie DeWitt Rosemarie Braddock DeWitt (born October 26, 1971) is an American actress. DeWitt played Emily Lehman in the Fox television series '' Standoff'' (2006–07), co-starring with her future husband Ron Livingston, as well as Charmaine Craine on '' U ...
as Abby *
Elliot Page Elliot Page (formerly Ellen Page; born February 21, 1987) is a Canadian actor, producer, and activist. He is known for his leading roles across Canadian and American film and television, and for his outspoken work as an activist for LGBTQ righ ...
as Jenny *
Josh Pais Joshua Atwill Pais (born June 21, 1958) is an American actor and acting coach. He has appeared in the films ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' (1990), ''Music of the Heart'' (1999), ''Assassination of a High School President'' (2008), '' I Saw the ...
as Paul *
Allison Janney Allison Brooks Janney (born November 19, 1959) is an American actress. Known for her performances across the screen and stage, she has received List of awards and nominations received by Allison Janney, various accolades, including an Academy A ...
as Bronwyn *
Ron Livingston Ronald Joseph Livingston (born June 5, 1967) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Peter Gibbons in ''Office Space'' (1999) and Captain Lewis Nixon III in the miniseries ''Band of Brothers (miniseries), Band of Brothers'' (2001). Liv ...
as Adrian *
Scoot McNairy John "Scoot" McNairy (born November 11, 1977) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in films such as '' Monsters'' (2010), ''Argo'', ''Killing Them Softly'' (both 2012), '' Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice'' (2016), '' Speak No Evil' ...
as Jesse * Tomo Nakayama as Henry


Production

Director
Lynn Shelton Lynn Shelton (August 27, 1965 – May 15, 2020) was an American filmmaker, known for writing, directing, and producing such films as '' Humpday'' and '' Your Sister's Sister''. She was associated with the mumblecore genre. Early life Shelton was ...
's friend
Megan Griffiths Megan Griffiths (born April 22, 1975) is an American film and television director who resides in Seattle, and is a board member of Northwest Film Forum. Early life and education Megan Griffiths was born in Ohio, lived in Moscow, Idaho in her tee ...
suggested the title after Shelton described her idea for the film over lunch.
Elliot Page Elliot Page (formerly Ellen Page; born February 21, 1987) is a Canadian actor, producer, and activist. He is known for his leading roles across Canadian and American film and television, and for his outspoken work as an activist for LGBTQ righ ...
joined the cast after
Catherine Keener Catherine Ann Keener (born March 26, 1959) is an American actress. She has portrayed disgruntled and melancholic yet sympathetic women in independent films, as well as supporting roles in studio films. She has been nominated twice for the Academ ...
mentioned that Shelton was interested in working with Page. According to Page, a large amount of the dialogue was improvised. Filming took place in the
Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
area.


Reception

According to
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
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 ...
, 41% of 63 critics have given the film a positive review, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Well-acted but overly quirky, ''Touchy Feely'' is a tonally uneven dramedy with some interesting ideas but a lack of follow-through."
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 ...
, another aggregator, calculated a weighted average score of 55 out of 100 based on 18 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


References


External links

* *
''Touchy Feely''
at
Magnolia Pictures Magnolia Pictures LLC is an American independent film distributor and production company, and is a subsidiary of Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner's 2929 Entertainment. Magnolia was formed in 2001 by Bill Banowsky and Eamonn Bowles, and specializes in ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Touchy Feely 2013 films 2013 independent films American comedy-drama films 2013 comedy-drama films Films directed by Lynn Shelton Films shot in Washington (state) Films shot in Seattle 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language comedy-drama films English-language independent films