Waiting For Forever
Encyclopedia
Waiting for Forever is a 2010 American romance film
directed by James Keach
, starring Rachel Bilson
and Tom Sturridge
. The film had a limited theatrical release beginning February 4, 2011. It was shot in Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah.
) and Will (Tom Sturridge
) lost touch a long time ago—as far as she knows. She is back in their hometown, because her father is sick and dying. Emma hasn't just come home to be with her father, but she is also trying to leave behind her complicated love life and career as a TV actress. She has a strained relationship with her mother. As a man and woman give Will a ride to back home, Will tells them the story of how he fell in love with Emma and how she was with him when his parents died. He is dropped off in Historic 25th Street in Ogden, UT. Upon arrival he visits his brother Jim, a banker, who believes Will has mental problems and is reluctant to have Will stay.
After seeing his brother is angry, Will stays with his childhood friend Joe. Will tells Joe today or tomorrow is the day he will tell Emma he loves her. However, Emma's boyfriend follows her home as he wants to reconcile, staying at a local hotel.
Will and Emma spend the day together, reminiscing on times passed. She admits her unfaithfulness to her boyfriend, who wants to marry her. She discovers Will has been following her and asks him to promise to stop. Will agrees and leaves town.
It is revealed that Emma's boyfriend has murdered the man with whom Emma was having an affair, although she is still not aware of this. Her boyfriend calls the LAPD and claims it was Will who committed the murder.
Will decides to hitchhike away from his hometown. On his way he is arrested by the highway patrol and taken to jail. Jim bails him and takes him to the airport. He runs away to San Francisco, leaving behind money to make up for the bail his brother paid.
Emma is shaken with the news of her lover's death, and gets a letter from Will proving that he wasn't in LA when the murder was committed.
Emma's father dies. Emma goes to Joe and asks him to tell Will that she is sorry for what she had said to him.
After Emma's father's funeral she receives a love letter from Will. She leaves for San Francisco to look for him, finding him performing on Fisherman's Wharf.
. Stephen Holden of The New York Times
said, "More often than not, I felt suffocated by the gaseous sentimentality and lightheadedness of a story that drops in subplots that it can't begin to develop." David Noh of Film Journal International
found the Will character to be "nothing more than a stalker, and it is the premise of James Keach's idiotic simper of a film that you find his behavior not only somehow justifiable, but irresistible. ... Keach tries to amp things up in the last act by throwing in a supposed murder that is merely groan-inducing, especially when you realize that this will only extend the already excruciating exposition." While acceding Noh's former point, Pete Hammond of Boxoffice
nonetheless called it a "refreshingly pure, honest and original love story", and bemoaned that, "a small movie that sports no real exploitative elements except genuine human interactions is a tough sell."
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...
directed by James Keach
James Keach
James Keach is an American actor, producer, and director. He is the younger brother of actor Stacy Keach, Jr., and son of actor Stacy Keach, Sr.-Background:...
, starring Rachel Bilson
Rachel Bilson
Rachel Sarah Bilson is an American actress. Bilson grew up in a California show business family, and made her television debut in 2003, subsequently becoming well known for playing Summer Roberts on the prime time drama series The O.C. Bilson made her film debut in the 2006 film The Last Kiss and...
and Tom Sturridge
Tom Sturridge
Thomas Sidney Jerome "Tom" Sturridge is an English actor best known for his work in Being Julia, Like Minds, and The Boat That Rocked. As of September 2010, he was filming a role in Walter Salles's highly anticipated film adaptation of Jack Kerouac's On the Road.-Personal life:Sturridge was born...
. The film had a limited theatrical release beginning February 4, 2011. It was shot in Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah.
Plot
Best friends while they were growing up, Emma (Rachel BilsonRachel Bilson
Rachel Sarah Bilson is an American actress. Bilson grew up in a California show business family, and made her television debut in 2003, subsequently becoming well known for playing Summer Roberts on the prime time drama series The O.C. Bilson made her film debut in the 2006 film The Last Kiss and...
) and Will (Tom Sturridge
Tom Sturridge
Thomas Sidney Jerome "Tom" Sturridge is an English actor best known for his work in Being Julia, Like Minds, and The Boat That Rocked. As of September 2010, he was filming a role in Walter Salles's highly anticipated film adaptation of Jack Kerouac's On the Road.-Personal life:Sturridge was born...
) lost touch a long time ago—as far as she knows. She is back in their hometown, because her father is sick and dying. Emma hasn't just come home to be with her father, but she is also trying to leave behind her complicated love life and career as a TV actress. She has a strained relationship with her mother. As a man and woman give Will a ride to back home, Will tells them the story of how he fell in love with Emma and how she was with him when his parents died. He is dropped off in Historic 25th Street in Ogden, UT. Upon arrival he visits his brother Jim, a banker, who believes Will has mental problems and is reluctant to have Will stay.
After seeing his brother is angry, Will stays with his childhood friend Joe. Will tells Joe today or tomorrow is the day he will tell Emma he loves her. However, Emma's boyfriend follows her home as he wants to reconcile, staying at a local hotel.
Will and Emma spend the day together, reminiscing on times passed. She admits her unfaithfulness to her boyfriend, who wants to marry her. She discovers Will has been following her and asks him to promise to stop. Will agrees and leaves town.
It is revealed that Emma's boyfriend has murdered the man with whom Emma was having an affair, although she is still not aware of this. Her boyfriend calls the LAPD and claims it was Will who committed the murder.
Will decides to hitchhike away from his hometown. On his way he is arrested by the highway patrol and taken to jail. Jim bails him and takes him to the airport. He runs away to San Francisco, leaving behind money to make up for the bail his brother paid.
Emma is shaken with the news of her lover's death, and gets a letter from Will proving that he wasn't in LA when the murder was committed.
Emma's father dies. Emma goes to Joe and asks him to tell Will that she is sorry for what she had said to him.
After Emma's father's funeral she receives a love letter from Will. She leaves for San Francisco to look for him, finding him performing on Fisherman's Wharf.
Cast
- Rachel BilsonRachel BilsonRachel Sarah Bilson is an American actress. Bilson grew up in a California show business family, and made her television debut in 2003, subsequently becoming well known for playing Summer Roberts on the prime time drama series The O.C. Bilson made her film debut in the 2006 film The Last Kiss and...
as Emma Twist - Tom SturridgeTom SturridgeThomas Sidney Jerome "Tom" Sturridge is an English actor best known for his work in Being Julia, Like Minds, and The Boat That Rocked. As of September 2010, he was filming a role in Walter Salles's highly anticipated film adaptation of Jack Kerouac's On the Road.-Personal life:Sturridge was born...
as Will Donner - Nikki Blonsky as Dolores
- K.C. Clyde as Dennis
- Blythe DannerBlythe DannerBlythe Katherine Danner is an American actress. She is the mother of actress Gwyneth Paltrow and director Jake Paltrow.-Early life:...
as Miranda Twist - Roz RyanRoz RyanRoz Ryan is an American actress. She has earned wide acclaim as an actress, singer and comedian.-Life and career:Ryan was born Rosalyn Bowen in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of Gertrude and Thomas Bowen, who worked for the Board of Education. She is a 1969 graduate of Mackenzie High School...
as Dorothy - Matthew DavisMatthew DavisMatthew W. Davis is an American actor.-Life and career:Davis was born in Salt Lake City. He attended Woods Cross High School, and the University of Utah....
as Aaron - Larry Filion as Larry, the bartender.
- Nelson Franklin as Joe
- Richard GantRichard GantRichard E. Gant is an American film and television actor. His credits include the films Rocky V , as a possessed cornoner in Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday , Deadwood, Babylon 5, Special Unit 2, NYPD Blue, Living Single, Posse and Charmed...
as Albert - K. Danor Gerald as Detective 2
- Frank Gerrish as taxi driver.
- Charles HalfordCharles HalfordCharles Halford is an American actor. In 2009, he starred in the DCOM Dadnapped as Skunk. He has also co-starred in dozens of other television shows and movies such as The Luck of the Irish.-Filmography:...
as State Trooper - Richard JenkinsRichard JenkinsRichard Dale Jenkins is an American stage, film, and television actor. After beginning his career in theatre, Jenkins made his film debut in 1974, and appeared in supporting roles in numerous film productions in the 1980s and the 1990s. His breakthrough came in the 2000s for playing the deceased...
as Richard Twist - Jaime KingJaime KingJaime King is an American actress and model. In her modeling career and early film roles, she used the names Jamie King and James King, which was a childhood nickname given to King by her parents, because her agency already represented another Jaime — the older, then more famous model Jaime...
as Susan Donner - Scott MechlowiczScott MechlowiczScott David Mechlowicz is an American actor. He began his professional acting career in 2003, working in commercials and television, and is best known for his lead roles in the films EuroTrip, Mean Creek, Peaceful Warrior, Gone, Undocumented, and Cat Run.- Early life :Mechlowicz was born in New...
as Jim Donner - Borzin Mottaghian as driver.
- Joseph D. Reis as hopeless man.
- Andrew Roach as Stewart
- John Ross as Will's dad.
- Michelle Sebekzes as Will's mother.
- David Taylor as Dennis
- Ace Olson as Amos, Will's nephew.
Reception
The film went into limited theatrical release on February 4, 2011, and played from three to 14 theaters during its two-week run. With a production budget of US$5 million, it grossed $25,517. The film received negative reviews, scoring six percent on the film-critics aggregate site Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
. Stephen Holden of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
said, "More often than not, I felt suffocated by the gaseous sentimentality and lightheadedness of a story that drops in subplots that it can't begin to develop." David Noh of Film Journal International
Film Journal International
Film Journal International is a motion-picture industry trade magazine published by the American company Prometheus Global Media. It is a sister publication of Adweek, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, and other periodicals....
found the Will character to be "nothing more than a stalker, and it is the premise of James Keach's idiotic simper of a film that you find his behavior not only somehow justifiable, but irresistible. ... Keach tries to amp things up in the last act by throwing in a supposed murder that is merely groan-inducing, especially when you realize that this will only extend the already excruciating exposition." While acceding Noh's former point, Pete Hammond of Boxoffice
Boxoffice (magazine)
Boxoffice is a film industry magazine dedicated to the movie theatre business published by Boxoffice Media LP. It started in 1920 as The Reel Journal, taking its current name in 1931 and still publishes today, with an intended audience of theatre owners and film professionals.Boxoffice is the...
nonetheless called it a "refreshingly pure, honest and original love story", and bemoaned that, "a small movie that sports no real exploitative elements except genuine human interactions is a tough sell."