Brain On Fire

19 Replies

Susannah is working her dream job at a newspaper in New York City, but just as it seems as though the 21 year old has it all together – a cute apartment, a musician boyfriend, and a hot assignment from her boss things start to go wonky.

A super caring (read: sarcasm) doctor diagnoses her with “partying too hard” based on the one glass of wine she cops to drinking occasionally but something’s definitely up and whatever it is, it ain’t that. She’s not acting like herself. She zones out. She convulses with seizures. What the heck is happening with Susannah?

MV5BNjE4OTcyZDUtN2Y0My00NzlhLWJhODgtMjZlMTNjNzU0ZDIzXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNDkwNTM3OTA@._V1_In theory this is an interesting little mystery, but on tape it’s surprisingly boring. Chloe Grace Moretz “acts” a great range of symptoms by making crazy eyes and flaring her nostrils while we maintain a polite distance. In fact, there’s such a remove that’s built-in it kind of makes me feel like I’m visiting my own sick relative and just nosily eavesdropping on Susannah’s shit.

I read the book on which this movie is based and it didn’t really light my fire either. Not to make light of her disease, but I sort of think a brain on fire is preferable to what this movie did to mine, ie, turned it into pea soup. Now I’m going to have to stand on one foot and hop up and down trying to mushify those peas and get them draining out the various holes in my face. You know, best case scenario.

Anyway, I’m sure there’s some weird network on television that airs diseases of the week, and that’ll be no worse than this, but your expectations should be more realistically aligned. This movie is just a no for me. I would have rather spent the time in the waiting room of my local ER – at least as long as there are KitKats in the vending machine.

19 thoughts on “Brain On Fire”

  3. indiefan20

    I’ve liked Chloe Grace Moretz since “Kick-Ass” but I don’t think she makes the best career choices, in my opinion she’s not reaching her full potential as an actress. I like memoirs about mental illness but I’ve never read the book “Brain on Fire,” even though you say you didn’t like either I might give the book a try and stay away from the movie from the time being. 🙂

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  5. reocochran

    I really liked your honest review, Jay. I am sure there are better ones on illnesses. I liked the Me before You and You before Me books by JoJo Moynes. They were funny and serious, characters were interesting. . . Settings unique from each book. Thanks for this.

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  11. terrepruitt

    I liked this, it was entertaining. I was annoyed by the way they just filmed her “zoning” out episodes . . . or whatever . . . I think they could have done a better job letting us know what she was feeling/seeing/hearing/experiencing instead of just showing us her in flashes and odd camera angles.

    I do love that in real life this woman’s situation and her doctor’s diagnosis and treatment has actually helped a lot of other people!

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