Like a Diane Keaton cast off, Hello I Must Be Going (a nod to a Marx Brothers song) is a timid little indie flick with a movie of the week whiff. Melanie Lynskey plays Amy, a thirty-something photographer forced to move back in with her parents after a messy divorce. While coming to terms with the end of her marriage Amy begins an affair with a young actor (Daniel Eric Gold), makes enemies with her mother (a wasted Blythe Danner) and loses herself in a spell of depression before coming to terms with the way her life has turned out.
As far as stories go its generic at best, with bland characters, stagnant direction and a lack of narrative drive. Passable performances from Lynskey, doing her best with sour dialogue and a feeble script, contributes little to a narrative that flat-lines through soirees, clichés and invisible plot points.
Even Woody Allen would have struggled to inject such a slight story with momentum but first time director Todd Louiso contributes nothing but hot air, fumbling the drama through most of its 90 minutes. A generic fop folk soundtrack, the type of which seems to grace most modern indie flicks and mobile phone ads, is a failed attempt to label the weak central concept with an identity, while a lack of originality makes HIMBG massively forgettable.
Daniel has awarded Hello I Must Be Going one Torch of Truth
