Ashlie Atkinson, Chris Bauer, David Wain

"The Guitar" is inspired by a true story. Overflowing with an energy and vitality that belies the initial darkness of its narrative, "The Guitar" is a transcendent respite from the turmoil of our trou...( read more  read more... )bled times. One morning Mel, a mousy, harried New Yorker with a thankless job and an even-less-appealing boyfriend learns that the tumor in her throat is cancerous and the diagnosis is terminal. She then hears that both her job and her relationship are coming to an end. Rather than wallowing in self-pity, she embarks on an endless spending spree, the kind of self-indulgent wish fulfillment that we have all fantasized about.

Flixster Users

48% liked it

216 ratings

Critics

33% liked it

18 critics

R, 1 hr. 35 min.

Directed by: Amy Redford

Release Date: November 7, 2008

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DVD Release Date: February 10, 2009

Stats: 69 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (69)


  • May 12, 2009
    What would you do if on the same day you get laid off, your boyfriend decides to dump you and you are told you have cancer and only a month or two to live?

    This movie presents one response. Makes you think.
  • April 14, 2009
    Interesting only in showing how tin-eared scriptwriting (by Amos Poe) can make 2008 New York City seem less familiar than 1952 Japan. Saffron Burrows is commanding as a distraught woman who finds a novel way to cope with tragedy, but the film constantly subverts realistic detail ...( read more)with the fantastic in ways that are not dramatically satisfying. And it's also insulting for us - guitar players - who spent years learning the craft and are supposed to believe that a 30-year-old woman who had never held a guitar in her hands before, just so happened to become a guitar-goddess in a matter of months. Please...
  • March 10, 2009
    its a fine movie with a fine performance. interesting cuz its based on a true story, but it is a bit slow paced and lingering. you'd have to be in the mood to watch it once but i wudnt watch it again. I did like the music doh, i liked it alot
  • February 21, 2009
    I thought that The Guitar was a pretty swell movie. I usually hate movies about people who suddenly find out that they're dying, and then finally start to live their lives when their lives are about to be taken from them. But The Guitar handles this kind of a story in an organic,...( read more) modernistic manner that doesn't rely on sappiness or melodrama to connect the audience to the protagonist.

    Saffron Burrows does a marvelous job. Her facial expressions almost tell the story well enough to preclude any dialogue on her part. There are other fine acting jobs here, but they all drift on the periphery of Saffron's excellent performance.

    It's nice to find a movie from time to time that I like despite my reservations. I'm not the kind of guy who would typically be interested in this genre of movie, but The Guitar was more than enough to get me to overlook that particular bias.
  • January 25, 2009
    I'm a guitar snob so this won't apply to your experience, necessarily. Saffron's acting was fine and good in this common 'oops, I'm dying, but I can deal with it via credit cards' story, but she couldn't play guitar, and worse, she had no body relationship with the instrument. Pr...( read more)obably won't bother most folks but it kind of spoiled it for me.

    sitenoise at the movies: The Guitar
  • August 10, 2009
    What an unbelievable story, full of passion and living life!! :)
  • August 8, 2009
    it wasn't quite a good a movie as i expected, but it's still a good one none the less. makes you really think about what you should do about your life when you find out that you only have a few months to live.
  • July 20, 2009
    Robert Redford?un aktris k?z? Amy Redford?un ilk yönetmenlik denemesi olan Gitar (The Guitar), ölümcül bir hastal??a yakaland???n? ö?renen, geri kalan iki ayl?k zaman?na tüm yapamad?klar?n? s??d?rmaya çal??mas?n? anlat?yor.
    Melody Wilder, ayn? gün içinde hem çal??t??? ?irketteki...( read more) s?k?c? i?inden at?l?r, hem de ayn? derecede s?k?c? sevgilisi taraf?ndan terk edilir. Üçüncü darbe ise, kelimenin gerçek anlam?yla öldürücü bir darbedir. Doktor (Janeane Garofalo) ona, ameliyat edilemeyen türden bir g?rtlak kanseri oldu?unu söylüyor. ?ki ay ömrü kalm??. Melody bunun üzerine dü?ünüp ta??n?yor, ömür boyu biriktirdi?i paray? çekip gününü gün etmeye karar veriyor. Büyük, çok güzel bir daire kiral?yor, bir sürü e?ya al?yor, kredi kartlar?n? sonuna kadar kullan?yor.
    Bununla da yetinmiyor. O güne kadar herkesten ?Küçük Kibritçi K?z? muamelesi gördü?ü için hayattan ba?ka yönlerden de tat almaya çal???yor. Kap?s?na gelen meslek erbab? ile, mobilyalar? ta??yan Rosco (e?siz ?saach de Bankole) ve pizzac? k?z Cookie ile (Paz de la Huerta) ili?kiye giriyor. Dairesini mum ????? ve egzotik çar?aflarla süslüyor. Böylece insan?n vakti s?n?rl? olunca, para da önemini kaybedince, s?n?rs?z imkanlara sahip olabilece?ini birinci elden kan?tl?yor. Ama bütün bu imkanlar aras?nda Melody için en önemlisi, k?rm?z? gitar?. K?sa geri dönü?lerle gördü?ümüz mutsuz çocuklu?unda hep böyle bir elektro gitar?n hayalini kurmu?. Redford Gitar?da sonunda kendi sesini bulan bir insan?n hikâyesini anlat?yor.
    Mekân olarak New York?ta, içinde özgür a?k k?r?nt?lar? da olan bir ??imdi ya da Asla? dü?ünün. Amy Redford?un ilk filmi ?Gitar?? kabaca böyle tan?mlamak mümkün. Ama do?rusu bu k?yaslama da filme haks?zl?k olur. Çünkü Saffron Burrows?un incelikli oyunculu?uyla sürükledi?i Gitar sürprizlerle dolu.
  • April 14, 2009
    it came in a moment where I could find myself.
  • March 19, 2009
    The transformation of a woman after she is diagnosed with a terminal illness, fired from her thankless job and abandoned by her boyfriend. Given two months to live, she blows her savings and maxes out her credit cards to pursue her dreams, which include romance and learning to pl...( read more)ay the electric guitar.

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    Its a good film however the message this film makes is very disturbing, especially the way the film ends. When she doesn't die in the 2 months she was told she visits her doctor again only to find out that she has miraculously been cured. Her cancer has gone into remission and she is no longer sick and no longer dying and here in lies the saddest part about this films message, as the doctors attributes her miraculous recovery to the way she lived the last couple months and the changes she made. In other words shopping & learning the guitar saved her life. (hilarious) sorry!!
    I have so many problems with this that I really wouldn't even know where to begin to describe it. ( so I better not)

    Final verdict: thumbs down. Even if you don't share my guitar arrogancy ,
    I don't think the film has much to offer beyond a decent performance from Burrows. ( I bet the guys would love to watch her all naked in the film) lol and the sex scenes were pretty good. (loved them).!!
    It's pretty standard what would you do if you were told you had only a couple months to live - stuff.
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Critic Reviews


November 7, 2008
Marcy Dermansky, About.com

I was seduced by Melody's story. Sucked in, enjoying Amy Redford's film despite myself. full review

View more The Guitar reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

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