Movie Review - The Giant Mechanical Man

"The Giant Mechanical Man" is the 2012 independent romantic comedy that most of you probably have never even heard of let alone seen. The films stars Jenna Fischer (Star of the popular comedy "The Office") as Janice, a young woman who is struggling to find a job and is in danger being kicked out of her apartment. Chris Messina plays Tim, a street performer who plays a silver painted mechanical robot. While Tim believes this to be his true talent and he enjoys his street performing persona, it doesn't exactly pay the bills.

Out of luck and money, Janice moves in with her over barring sister Jill (Malin Akerman) and her husband Brian (Rich Sommer). While they both love and support Janice, they don't really understand her and that becomes very apparent as they relentlessly try to fix Janice up with their friend Doug Duncan, an annoying "self help" book author played by Topher Grace. When both Tim and Janice find jobs at the local zoo, the two befriend each other and realize how much they share in common. As the connection between Tim and Janice quickly grows, Janice's sister's persistence may get in the way of true love before it begins.

Jenna Fischer and Tim Messina both give strong performances and they make their characters stand out on screen and you can't help but love both Tim and Janice. "The Giant Mechanical Man" isn't exactly a ground breaking film so to speak, but writer/director Lee Kirk has written a strong script that avoids many of the cliche romantic comedy elements. The cast of actors here is very well rounded and Topher Grace in particular does a great job playing the annoying self help guy who you just keep wishing would disappear and leave our Janice alone.  Fischer and Messina really deliver the goods in "The Giant Mechanical Man" and it's because they make their characters so likeable this really film stood out to me. Netflix subscribers can currently find this film available to watch instantly online and I highly recommend that you do so. If you're looking for an off-beat, romantic, and charming film you will definitely find "The Giant Mechanical Man" a very enjoyable movie. As always, click here for to see the trailer for the film.