Spoiler Alert:
I shall be psycho analysing The Voices, judging its tone and taking its message to see if it speaks to me or falls on deaf ears. So read on only if you’ve already seen The Voices, or don’t plan to.
The cat’s got his tongue
0:01:32 I just love videos of small towns. They make me so glad I don’t live in one.
0:04:42 In his room above an abandoned bowling alley, a voice-off criticizes Jerry (Ryan Reynolds) for agreeing to help plan the company picnic. Picnics… Picnics are buffets for bugs and poor people.
0:08:16 Jerry meets with Dr. Warren (Jacki Weaver), his court appointed therapist, who asks him if he’s still on his medication. Like a gay athlete with the Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover, Jerry avoids that issue.
[Why does he need a court appointed psychiatrist? See 56:22]
Psychological ties
0:08:26
Dr. Warren: Do you ever hear her voices?
Jerry: Voices? No… I mean… When someone’s talking to me.
Dr. Warren: You hesitated a little bit there.
Jerry: It just makes me think of my mother.
Dr. Warren: ‘Angels’ was what she called her voices.
Jerry: Yeah.
Dr. Warren: Angels were her coping strategy. The voices were real to her.
I’m not the one equating religion and mental illness. For once.
0:09052 Fiona (Gemma Arterton not trying to hide her accent) wants a conga line at the picnic. Conga is the last sort of line I’d do.
Suddenly, Jerry desired a milk shake
0:11:04 The critical voice in the earlier scene belonged to a pussy – cat (Mr. Whiskers, voiced by Ryan Reynolds). The dog (Bosco, also voiced by Ryan Reynolds) speaks as well, but more like a drunk and stupid best friend than the cat who is, well, catty.
0:12:52 Jerry stops by the accounting department of the company to pay a visit to Fiona, who is as cold as London in June. Lisa (Anna Kendrick), however, asks if he’d like to ‘chick out’ at the bar with some of the girls after work. I can’t help thinking he’d rather ‘chick in’.
Doesn’t know it yet, but she’s going to give him head…hers
0:13:35 Lisa is obviously infatuated with Jerry. Is Anna Kendrick showing too much cleavage, or is it just my being overly gay?
Valley of the Shadow of Breasts
0:15:04 WTF!? Fiona accepts Jerry’s invitation to a romantic rendez-vous at a Chinese restaurant because…why? She already believes him to be dim sum what.
0:15:35
What every girls’ says
0:17:17 Fiona stood Jerry up, and not like a nurse with a legless man.
0:17:38 Why Fiona stood Jerry up:
Karaoke night: Fiona (Gemma Arterton) – Knock On Wood
0:18:02
Karaoke night: Fiona (Gemma Arterton) & Lisa (Anna Kendrick) – Knock On Wood
0:18:40
Karaoke night: Alison (Ella Smith) – Shimmy Shimmy Ya
0:20:46 The original songs in The Voices are well put together
0:22:58 Jerry happens upon Fiona, who was stranded in the rain with car trouble. She’s surprised he didn’t get the cancellation message she never sent and agrees to let him take her to a burger restaurant, making this a meat and greet.
I loathe animal photos so this is awww-some for me
0:24:32 Jerry asks Fiona a trivia question by saying that only four angels are named by name in the Bible. Three of them are Michael, Raphael and Gabriel. Who’s the fourth?
[I’m not going to answer here. If you think you know, or have seen this film, then leave the answer in the comments! BTW, how sad is it that I already knew the answer from my days as a Catholic school belle.]
025:06 You know how in movies the driver never looks at the road? Jerry does the same here. But to the film’s credit here’s what happens.
Oh Deer!
0:25:24 Lol, the deer head that’s come through the windscreen and is now on the dashboard asks Jerry to take a knife and slit its throat. The deer is also voiced by Ryan Reynolds. He’s such an animal.
0:26:01 As the deer’s blood sprays on Fiona, she panics and runs out of the car and into the woods. Trying to get her to come back, Jerry follows her, still holding the knife.
0:26:31
Jerry: I’m sorry if I hurt you.
Jerry to Fiona after he falls on top of her, knife first
Then he stabs her in the chest to put her out of her misery, the recently heartless wench.
He’s in love, no matter how you slice it
0:29:14 Bosco the dog tells Jerry he should go to the police and confess. Mr. Whiskers points out he took the knife with him when he ran after Fiona because he wanted to kill her and, indeed, the only time he feels truly alive is when he’s killing. Jerry agrees that killing is his living.
034:11
Jerry: The medication smooths things out, and that’s OK. But even though there were bad moments–
Dr. Warren: – – Very bad moments.
Jerry: – – very bad – – they’re also moments of inspiration and beauty, when all the world makes sense. And the elegant secret mechanics of man and God are revealed in their many dimensions, and the universe is laid out before mine eyes and it is a blessed place.
Dr. Warren: You totally stopped taking the pills, didn’t you?
Jerry: Totally.
I usually feel like that after I take the pills.
0:36:12 Jerry is in his room, sawing Fiona into bits and putting the pieces into Tupperware containers. TIL a hacksaw is the wrong tool for human bones, but at least he’s able to get a piece from Fiona.
0:37:10
How Fiona stacks up
0:37:42 He put her head in the ice box, as if she weren’t cold enough before she died.
0:39:32 Fiona’s head chastises Jerry into taking his anti-psychotic meds. As she’s just a severed head, it’s safe to say she lost her figure.
0:42:36 Waking up from a nap, his psychosis has lifted and he sees the harsh reality of what he’s done. So he promptly washes the rest of the medication down the drain and makes himself sick in the toilet to flush the drugs from his system.
Here are some comparison photos. The first / top image is how Jerry perceives life through the veil of his insanity. The second / bottom is what he sees through the reality of his drugs.
Two heads are better than one
My flat Saturday morning and Sunday morning
0:44:06
Fiona: Hey, Jerry. Jerry? Can you get me a friend?
Jerry: A friend?
Fiona: I get so lonely in the fridge.
How to speak British English (according to Americans)
0:46:56 Lol! Jerry and his pets are watching a compilation of animals making the beast with two backs.
0:48:31
Bosco: He is wrong. We’re not like the pussy, Jerry.
The dog is the angel on Jerry’s right shoulder and Mr. Whiskers is the devil on the other.
0:51:11 Jerry is going back with Lisa to her place. The music sounds like Jerry has chosen Mr. Whisker’s option.
“Anna Kendrick, you’re my favourite garden gnome.”
0:56:22 Jerry takes Lisa to an isolated house in the forest where he grew up and has a flashback of himself in his early teens killing his mother. She’s begging him to slice her throat, as she would rather die than return to the mental asylum. Either way, young Jerry is a pain in her neck and so is the shard of glass he’s wielding.
0:57:51 Jerry abandons the knife with which he intended to stab Lisa in the back. Instead of giving her eternity, he gives her one night.
1:02:38 Lisa asks Alison for Jerry’s address so she might get him a surprise. Her surprise will be nowhere near the surprise she’ll have seeing Tupperware containers of Fiona filling his room and finding her head in his fridge.
1:06:07 A 30-second summary of the film to this point.
1:06:58
Bosco: Ah, Jerry, I just need a whiff of her butt!
Things dogs say.
1:08:51 In a very WTFull moment, Jerry accidentally locks himself out of his room so he has to climb on the roof to access the skylight. In the meantime, Lisa decides she won’t leave like she promised but instead will pick the lock because this is part of an accountant’s skill set.
1:13:22 After Lisa discovers all the mess and the blood, she tries to escape but Jerry throws her into his bed where she breaks her neck on the headboard. Jerry then kills her with a knife, proving he’s bad in bed.
1:14:08 Jerry places Lisa’s head in the fridge beside Fiona’s. Because two heads are better than one.
Heads above the rest
1:14:16 Ryan Reynolds and The Voices.
1:16:56 Lisa’s officemate Alison goes to visit Jerry after neither Lisa nor Jerry show up for work. She decides to do this after reading an article on-line about how Jerry killed his mother as a boy (1:16:10). However, she decides not to ask either of the men reading the article with her to accompany her. WTF!? Has she lost her head? #NotYet
That escalated quickly
1:17:34
1:17:41
Bosco: Hey, Jer? You remember last week when you said there was an invisible line that separates good from evil and you thought you’d crossed it and I said, ‘No no no, you’re a good boy’?
Jerry: Yeah, I remember. So what?
Bosco: I’ve changed my opinion.
1:20:12 Jerry pays a visit to his psychologist and confesses to no longer taking his medication.
Jerry: Dr. Warren, I’m a bad person.
Dr. Warren: Don’t be so hard on yourself. I appreciate your honesty. I’m disappointed, but hey, it’s not like you killed someone.
Jerry: Uhm…
Dr. Warren: What, Jerry?
Jerry: It is kind of like that. Kind of like that times three.
1:24:08
Dr. Warren: Just because you have thoughts, doesn’t mean you have to act on them.
Such a simple concept, alien to so many.
Dr. Do Little
1:26:18 The two blokes from the office arrive at Jerry’s room over the bowling alley to investigate. One of the men waits in the truck as a guard and the other picks the lock. Apparently this is a skill everyone in America has mastered.
1:26:38 WTF!? The bloke who broke into Jerry’s place told his mate to call the police, but when Jerry arrives with his therapist hours later, the police aren’t there yet. Perhaps they’re too busy arresting all the lock pickers.
1:31:12 While escaping the police (who arrive eventually), Jerry breaks a pipe and creates a gas leak that will end the film with a bang.
1:35:02 The explosion starts a fire in the bowling alley and Jerry listens to Bosco and lays his life down, literally, on the floor, when he lets the smoke take him.
Couch vegetable
1:35:26 After the animals part ways, amicably, Jerry meets his mother, father, Lisa, Alison and Jesus. They’re dressed in cheap clothes either from the 70’s or Edinburgh.
Roll credits
Tally Ho’
- WTF!?’s: 4 screaming ones.
- When to Follow: A little more dark than comedy, The Voices is a good, Saturday night watch for couples who hate romantic comedies.
- Where’s This Found: A well-put together film, solidly directed by Marjane Satrapi (best known for the animated Persepolis). In addition to the intriguing story line and nice pacing, Ryan Reynolds plays the goofy yet tortured Jerry with a finesse that will help us forgive him for R.I.P.D. and Green Lantern. Out of a possible 10, I have 8 F’s to give
- What To Feedback: Answer Jerry’s riddle in the comment section: Only four angels are named by name in the Bible. Three of them are Michael, Raphael and Gabriel. Who’s the fourth?
All GIFs used in this review were created with the Imgflip online meme generator
Left Over WTF (Way Too Funny) Photos
In my continuing effort to improve upon film posters…
How I apologize
Jerry is the Cereal Killer
“We can’t all go as ‘Orange is the New Black’!”
How to turn a coffee table into a head stand
Ryan and Gemma in Gender Roles
Prints suitable for reposting!
WTF!? did they say?
WTF!? do you meme?
What to Follow Up
WTF!? review of the brilliant “Excision”
WTF!? review of the brilliant “All Cheerleader’s Die”
WTF!? review of “Life After Beth”
WTF!? of a much worse Ryan Reynolds film
Oh Al! Booze Revooze of Anna Kendrick’s “Up in the Air”
Fernby Films review of “The Interview”
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