Pop Culture Reviews

How To Be – DVD Preview

Distributor: Madman Films Released: 2009 Genre: Drama/Comedy Credits: Director: Oliver Irving Starring: Robert Pattinson, Rebecca Pidgeon, Jeremy Hardy, Powell Jones Rating: TBC

This is a preview of the media screener version of How To Be courtesy of Madman New Zealand.

Before Robert Pattinson grew fangs and found hair gel as Edward Cullen in Twilight, he actually did, you know, other movies. Shock horror!! Sorry Twi-fans, Robert wasn’t always a vampire and probably won’t always be one either as this surprisingly entertaining movie shows.

How to Be is Robert Pattinson at what I think is quite possibly his best (yes, I will probably burn in hell for admitting that Edward Cullen is NOT his best work) performance so far as the awkward music-loving Art. Although his character comes across as something of a psychological and emotional mess (with almost too much realism), you can’t help but feel sorry for the poor lad as he desperately tries to piece together some semblance of a family unit through bonding with his otherwise remote and dysfunctional parents.

Speckled with a dash of charming british humour (and Powell Jones as Dr. Ellington is fantastic), How to Be is a quaint, funny and light-heartedly entertaining flick. And it’s interesting to note that playing a musician seemed almost effortless for him in comparison to his somewhat strained performance as vampire Edward Cullen. One can’t help but think that Pattinson seems more ‘at home’ bringing to life a misfit like Art in How to Be than he does a vampire in Twilight.

But lets not pick on the man’s bread and butter although if Robert Pattinson’s performance in this is anything to go by, he might just see the sun rise again beyond the fan-infested, paparazzi-stalking death grip Twilight seems to have him in.

How to Be is available from Madman Australia:

Check out the trailer: