User Reviews

I watched this for one reason and I am perhaps ashamed to say it but it was because I think Amber Heard is gorgeous. She isn't always the best actress (though I think she isn't bad) but I just have a huge thing for her. What surprised me was that this little indie romance/dark comedy was actually okay. It was far from amazing and didn't blow me away but honestly I watch so many truly awful indie flicks that I don't make it half way through and this wasn't awful. In fact, it was a unique and well developed concept with some very dark humour and the spin on it using marketing as a driving force and lesson in morality was really well done. The pacing of the film isn't great and often drags just a little bit. The chemistry between our lead stars isn't perfect, it isn't bad but there is some spark missing. I also am not sure they knew what direction or genre they wanted to take this film in and it feels a little jumbled at times. I think with a better director and perhaps screenwriter they could have honed the picture just a little better and made it more impressive. However, for what it is it was fun and worth watching if not mostly forgettable.

The aforementioned Amber Heard is the cutthroat Six. She has spent years creating her image and is a power hungry and emotionally void marketing manager. Heard is decent in the role. It isn't her best performance but she does it well. Shiloh Fernandez is okay in his role as Scat. He is supposed to be a brilliant marketing genius who is scatter brained and disillusioned with the advertising world. The problem is that he looks too young and isn't quiet believable in his role. He comes across as someone who just lucked out on a good idea. The chemistry with Heard is again, okay, but could have been much better. The supporting cast includes Kellan Lutz in a darkly comic role as Sneaky Pete. It isn't exactly a tough role but he does it decently. Brittany Snow shows up in a role so small if you sneeze you'll miss it so there isn't any point in even mentioning her. Everyone else plays their role decently but no one really stands out as worth mentioning.

Syrup is a satire and there is very few films that do satire well. This does is well. The problem is the potential is really great and it drops the ball frequently. Aram Rappaport is very inexperienced and this film needs a director with more style and vision. I was surprised to see that author Max Barry who wrote the novel the film is based on also co-wrote the screenplay with Rappaport. The entire movie just needed more experience. Now pleasure understand I enjoyed watching it, it just felt unfortunately forgettable. Still it was unique and a good story and the voice over narration scenes breaking the fourth wall worked very well. It was an average flick that showed a ton of potential. I have no doubt the book was exponentially better. 6/10

Basic premise of this movie is that ads and hype sell products regardless of quality of actual product.

If you are trying to make a quick buck and never get to sell anything ever again that would work. However, with almost two decades of experience in marketing I can tell you that there is a solid reason big companies spend billions on developing flavors, and that is that people might buy crap, but people will not continue to purchase it.

But I digress. This movie is pretty stupid. Girl that was supposed to be 'hot' is more along lines of girl next door type, so miscast in my opinion. Yet everybody is supposed to want her. I just did not buy that.

Main male actor is kinda weird looking too. Not interesting weird in a likable way, like Steve Buscemi, but strange weird like Elijah Wood in his role in Sin City. Honestly, guy like that would never make it, no matter how good his ideas were, he'd just get used up and tossed away. Considering his character acts conceited and pushy entire movie, and girl is supposed to have attraction for him, I really did not buy his character at all.

Finally, no company would treat suicide the way they tried to portray it in this movie. They would deny responsibility and NOT fire people admitting guilt, as that course of action would open them up for class action lawsuits.

All in all, this movie is less realistic than a Disney movie. It is better than that crap 'Branded' but still far cry from any good.

This was not a good time. In fact, this was pretty difficult to get through. But I suffered through every moment hoping it gets better. But, the whole movie reeked! The script, the talking to the audience, the BS plot twists, the dumb ass villain who didn't speak - it was all so painful to watch. In fact, as a member of the human race I was a bit insulted. Sure there was a lesson here about advertising and marketing and the fickle public that'll buy into anything, but the delivery could have been way better. The acting was all right, but how hard can it be to repeat stupid lines from a stupid script. Overall, this was a waste of my time.

To be honest, when I saw the trailer this film did not look good but I was curious if it had anything of interest to say...but doubtful. Being that it's free on Netflix, no loss other than time for watching it. Right away, I really got the sense that someone wrote what they thought would be an interesting script based on what they learned in their Marketing 101 from college, and then picked a rather mundane subject like an energy drink. First of all, the film is fairly ridiculous and unbelievable, which is why you get the sense that this person barely survived Marketing 101, then switched majors, and thus it seems the writer has little sense of the marketing world, other than it's cut throat, which, who doesn't know that? The main character is completely unlikeable which really makes it hard to follow him. He's kind of like this small, elven schmarmy guy who wants to get rich without much work, and is really into some hot seemingly unobtainable girl. Other than that the main character has no other character development, and is mostly annoying and unlikeable. His roommate somehow manages to steal his idea and take over a huge corporation in a matter of months (that's right, months) but doesn't speak, which just adds to the complete unbelievability of this film, as do many things.

The main elf first tries to break into the Addy beverage company to try and sell his idea. When he's thrown out he pulls the fire alarm. Moments later everyone comes out drenched? When does pulling a fire alarm result in sprinklers going off? You begin to wonder if this was just a weak ploy to get Amber Heard wet. The elf then tries to pitch to her on the street, and she brushes him off as if this is a daily occurrence? I wasn't aware that New York beverage companies were a hot spot for espionage and skullduggery but dually noted. Elf gets screwed over by his buddy who even though he was selling his man juice for rent money, and getting stoned all the time (and doesn't speak), manages steal the elf's idea and take over the Addy beverage company. Amber Heard then lets elf talk himself into sleeping on her couch until he comes up with an idea to get back at his nemesis (that seems super likely). After an angry fit, elf drops beverage machine on himself and comes up with a brilliant commercial which is two young guys shaking a machine and it falls on one of them. I know, you're asking yourself how this would ever get approved and allowed to be put on the air. The Addy company isn't worried about lawsuits? Of course, some kid pulls the machine on himself and dies. Then the only people at the funeral are the kid's parents...and people from the Addy company. I mean, we're just snowballing into stupid and unbelievable at this point. And rather than the Addy company getting sued, the only result is the elf feels ready bad and decides to get up during the funeral and make an even more unrealistic and stupid speech about how marketing has power and they abused it, and that's wrong. At that point I had to just shut it off before it snowballed any further.

Really, no redeeming qualities in this film other than a Kirstie Alley scene, and pretty much pointless. It really made me wonder how people actually get money to make these low-budget films. Obviously, a wealthy relative 'cause I can't imagine who else would invest money into this trite schlock.

This movie is nowhere near as clever as it believes it is. It is hip to a certain extent, but they overdo it in a big way. Marketing energy drinks with names like "Fukk" is clever and funny at first, especially with all that jokes that come along with it, but it gets stagnant rather quickly. There is plenty of stereotyping and sexism as well, along with breaking the fourth wall with some admittedly clever inner monologue. The story isn't strong enough, so they try to be as cool as possible. The first half isn't half-bad. It's cool, sharp, and even clever at certain points. I was kind of digging it to a certain extent. Sadly, it runs out of fuel in the second half, and turns into a mortality tale that is filled with ethics. It becomes overly serious, and it turned me off to be honest. It doesn't help that our two leads are as selfish as can possibly be. As sexy and fun as Amber Heard is, the "enigmatic" character of hers got on my nerves. I was able to put up with it, because Amber is so gorgeous, but her character is needlessly childish. Heard manages to overcome it all with sheer talent, and her galvanizing presence, but her character does her no favors. She didn't feel like a human being at all. Shiloh Fernandez is a tad on the blind side. His smug performance wasn't exactly endearing. His character angered me. He's a bit of a slacker, and manages to achieve success. It sent the wrong message in my opinion. His chemistry with Heard wasn't that great. Brittany Snow is always a welcome presence, but her cameo felt out of place and otiose. The worst thing about this movie might just be the ending. It tries to distinguish itself from fantasy and reality, and I didn't buy it. Overall, this movie was cold. I was left wondering what the point of it was. Everything about this movie is cold. I didn't care for it at all. It never bored me, but more substance was needed. It's just too unlikable and crass for it's own good

4.7/10

After watching a third of this movie, I couldn't contain myself not to express my thoughts for the first time ever in a review.

If we would be future and we would have dictionaries with dynamic images to display meaning, Im pretty sure this movie would be under the word CRAP.

Don't take me wrong, apart from the 'FUKK' thing and 'wouldn't you die for a 'fukk'' and 'sneaky Pete' and 'wearing sunglasses at work makes me somehow cool' and 'my hair is wet but for some bizarre reason nothing else' and 'it suddenly hit me under the rain that I'm not a good person' and every second detail about this movie, it has something to offer. Still, besides some basic marketing theories that are blown way of proportions, not much.

The most terrible thing is that the idea is there, but this film failed to reveal it.