User reviews

where to start on this one...

i think opinions on this film will be formed from personal life experience and how much someone can relate to the characters. myself, I'm similar in age and circumstance to Leigh and recently made a life change much like hers (moving back home from the city) and while the mistakes and tumbles she makes are outright irresponsible, i could not help but like her character and the maturity she showed at the end.

the romance aspect of this movie, whilst most definitely *inappropriate* does reflect the mental state of the main female character played by Kristen bell. stifled by her routine adult life and the responsibilities that come with it, she finds solace in a younger group who bring out her inner teen as it were. i think this is extremely well portrayed in the film through the three main adult cast members, who were friends in highschool, that upon the return of Leigh (KB) all suddenly start to regress and rebel against the adult strains put on them. all three characters go a little wild and forget that 'time only moves in one direction' and their subsequent battles to re-balance themselves as adults was interesting to watch.

the strength of the young actors in this film prevented it from becoming smut. David Lambert had enough charisma that it was plausible that a confused and disturbed woman would be drawn to him, whilst still maintaining that young innocence that made the story equally as much about him maturing as it was about KBs character. Alex Shaffer was impressive and moving in his portrayal of a tormented young man.

could it have been done better? absolutely. does it contain inappropriate feelings and relationships...obviously yes. Does it convey the ability of people to mess up in the most stupid irresponsible ways....yup. i liked it. i wouldn't watch it again, but it was a good film. comedy it is not however and the tag-line cheapens the movie.

If you are looking for a neat package of a film with all the loose ends tied up with a pretty ribbon, this film is not for you. And as we all know, life is not that way either.

If seeing an older woman with a young man nauseates you, don't watch this film. Frankly, I wonder why some people never read about movies before they watch them. Then they are shocked to discover the themes of the movie.

Kristen Bell plays a 29-year-old woman who has grown disenchanted with the big city and her life there. She returns to the small town where she grew up, and moves back in with her parents.

This action can be described as irresponsible, simply because she is looking for a respite from responsibility. In fact, she returns to the Lifeguarding job she used to have.

She reconnects with old friends who have remained in the home town. They also have issues regarding responsibility and self-actualization.

In an attempt to regain the freedom of youth--and its passion--they start hanging out with some high school kids. This leads to some risky behavior. The rest of the plot relates to how this dangerous situation plays out.

I thought the acting was good. I especially enjoyed seeing Amy Madigan as the mother. Back in the day, I really enjoyed her in To Live and Die in L.A.

The movie Lifeguard, starring Sam Eliott in 1976, also dealt with a main character who is a lifeguard and who struggles with the issue of responsibility. I recommend it.

The main thing I can say about this movie is that it feels something like how real life is. People make mistakes. People come to crossroads. People sometimes search for answers without really having a clear understanding of the questions.

I thought this was a really good movie.

Whats bullshit is Netflix has movies like this with 1 or 2 stars that people don't watch and pass up because of the low ratings. I wish they would give IMDb ratings so that I could really gauge what to give a chance.

But anyways, again I thought it was a really good movie, with a realistic plot and story line. I thought it would have a "lifetime" feel to it but it had a life of its own.

If you don't have much to do, and you have an hour or two on your hands to watch a movie, I suggest this one.

The movie has its issues - the beginning is kind of strange, the characters are not developed well, as they could be...but still i liked the it because it has a spirit.

The spirit of nostalgia. Going back to the childhood, the time when we where happy and light- hearted. The life is scary, the growing up could be frightening.

The love story is extraordinary - a young man, almost a kid and a adult woman who is confused with her life. That love is a beautiful, impossible, elusive,passionate kind of love.

I don't understand why this movie has so many negative revues and rates. I don't find anything wrong, scandalous,immoral or outrageous in it. OK she is older, but what? You could fall in love at any age!

People in US consider the consent intercourse with 16-17 years old boy as something scandalous and almost a rape. But they don't find anything wrong when the 17-18 years old boys go to the American army to kill people.So you could go and kill people at the age of 17, but you must wait till 21 to buy a booze.Of course, if you have a relationship with an adult woman at age of 16 or 17 she must be put in jail for child abuse because you are minor:)))

Going into this movie, I didn't know much about it. I had seen a few previews in theaters and I had seen it promoted online a few times. Beyond that, I hadn't even thought about this movie.

As far as comedy goes, the movie isn't really funny. It has a few "haha" scenes but I don't see why they labeled this as a comedy, it has very dark themes such as depression, drugs, and sexual relationships with minors.

I didn't know where they were trying to go with the plot. It was undeveloped and shallow. I didn't have any idea what kind of people the characters were even by the end of the movie, there was little to no background on all of the characters. The most comical of all of the characters was the seeming role reversal of two of the characters, you had a control freak husband and all he cares about is starting a family, while all the wife wants to do is go out and have fun. It just doesn't seem like it was practical. The relationships are just off.

I will say that Kirsten Bell looks fantastic in a swimsuit. If that's all you care about, you may enjoy the movie. However, if you expect a movie with a decent plot and story, you should probably skip this one. The Lifeguard certainly misses its target as a deep-thought movie.

The script is mediocre. The dialogue is particularly clunky. Liberal use of the F word is not offensive; it's just awkward. Kristen Bell is always good, but she seems to end up in one unworthy role after another. (I wasn't a big fan of Veronica Mars, but it was a quality project and should have resulted in better roles than this.) Plenty of problematic scripts get made into movies. Part of the actors' jobs is to make them work. Silk purse out of a sow's ear, as they used to say. Gummer and Starr and Madigan all seem to think that overacting is the answer to the challenge. It isn't. Sincerity isn't achieved by overacting. Lambert's character has some wonderful moments and some very weak ones. He could have benefited from the strong hand of a director, but there is little evidence of that in this film. Shaffer, so wonderful in Win Win, is completely wasted here. All in all, Bell fans will probably need to see it. (With no make-up, she looks every bit her real age.) The rest of you can skip it.

The good news is this film cannot be placed in one of the common genres.

The directing was good, the scenes gave depth such as the vacant pool shot from a low height and the close ups of the characters inspired an emotional response.

The acting seemed appropriate to the story, the story did not connect with me so the acting seemed just adequate and not great by any of the characters

I saw several previous films combined in The Lifeguard. Summer of 42 for the coming of age element. The Year of Living Dangerously for tiger in the apartment. And her bus trip to and from NYC was reminiscent of many 'you can't go back' movies.

Her parents reminded me of the televangelist fans in Repo Man.

Overall I usually defend Kristen Bell and her acting was okay but was this the right movie for her?

It's easy to see why not everyone loves this film. It's just not all that funny. Or exciting. Or inspiring. Worst of all, it doesn't leave you with any sense of accomplishment or insight.

It works, however, if you can relate to this movie as an adult who has ever gone through a period of your life where you just wanted to go back to a simpler time.

I was able to relate in particular because like Leigh in the movie I actually went back to being a lifeguard in my 20s after graduating from college and not really knowing what to do with myself. And like Leigh, things didn't really work out entirely as I planned them to. Was it a good move? I'm a happy I did it? Did I learn anything from it? Hard to say really.

Similarly you're not going to find a lot of definitive answers in this movie as to whether the heroine makes choices that are right or wrong. But if you've had a similar experience - you'll feel like she's a friend.

I've got no experience with Veronica Mars, but I can see why people like Kristen Bell. She's real and relatable, as are all of the characters in this film.

At age 29, with her life in the city more disheartening and less complete than she ever expected, Kristen Bell's Leigh heads back home, where her two best friends (Mammie Gummer of The Good Wife and the familiar Martin Starr of Freaks and Geeks and about a million other comedies) are leading lives equally unperfected. During her aimless summer in her home town, she crosses paths with the local drop-outs, played sensitively and convincingly by a trio of young actors, including recently discovered teen actor Alex Shaffer of the Paul Giamatti film Win, Win, in a supporting role. Youthful indiscretions can't really cohabit with adult responsibilities, and the dramatic tension is ratcheted-up (if also resolved fairly easily) in sincere ways.

Nice production and a convincing story of early middle-age indecision with nuanced acting by a strong cast of recognizable faces adds up to a satisfying film.

Leigh London (Kristen Bell) is 29 and ten months old. She's a reporter in NYC. She feels lost and moves back in with her parents (Amy Madigan). She reconnects with her school friends Mel (Mamie Gummer) and Todd (Martin Starr). Mel is the high school vice-principal and struggling to get pregnant. Todd is still in the closet. Leigh gets her old lifeguard job at the pool. She befriends pool maintenance guy's teenage son Little Jason (David Lambert) and they become more.

I really love Mamie Gummer and her struggles. I like Martin Starr also and his story could be expanded. Kristen Bell's story is probably the least interesting of the three. I still like her but it's not like she's having a grand romance. It would be better to have more time with Gummer and Starr. It takes too long having sexy time with Bell and Lambert. I didn't think it was that type of movie. There is also the character Matt. He is a big part of the ending. He should have been a much bigger part of the story. The movie should spends more time with him than the little section with Todd. He should be a bigger character. Both Matt and Little Jason are not particularly compelling. I love the three main actors but this isn't quite special enough.

There are all sorts of different perspectives on this film and most of them not so good it seems. At the same time quite a few people seem to have enjoyed it a lot as well. I think you either get the feel of the film or you don't. It's sort of aimless as a film and all of its main characters are struggling with aim, direction. The water theme flows with the film as these people to some degree are all floating along on waves of life so to speak. Sometimes sinking. I think the film probably deserves more credit than it's gotten. The film is about being confused in life, confused about yourself and your direction, and as such I'd say it definitely works. If you get into the film, it is able to capture that unstable feeling. Sort of like the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is able to capture that feeling of complete chaos with its ending. It's actually very similar, but yet very different at the same time. This is far from a great film, but it's also a lot better and more interesting than your average Hollywood flick. A lot of the critics have said that the film doesn't reveal character motivations, or flush out enough from the characters backstories and the like, but not every film is about deep character introspection or understanding. Not every story needs to be built this way. Nor does every character need to be overly explained in standard ways. This film really doesn't overly need or want that. Many of the critics were just too confused to understand the confusion hence film past its surface. Take off the boring and jump in the water! 7/10

This movie is just fine. It's an interesting story about more different characters with similar life issues. I love the scenery, the nature and whole summer small town vibe from the movie. I think that everyone gets at least once in their life to a point, where we don't know how to go on and what we really want from life. We remember easier times, when we were teenagers or kids and just want to go back to those times for a while, but we really can't. This movie also shows a lot of other different problems. I don't get people saying that this movie glorifies pedophilia? I guess those people don't even know the definition of pedophilia. And just because a movie shows a relationship between an older and a younger partner, doesn't mean it's abuse. Dear Americans- if you're able to get a driving license at the age of 16 and legally be responsible, not just for your own life, but for the lives of other people in traffic, how can you not be responsible for your own love life? Dear everyone else, who suddenly became super sensitive about this subject: Why are you not bashing movies like Scarface or The Godfather or just about any action/ mafia/ war movie for glorifying killing/ drugs/ hate/ rape/ murder or any other violent crimes against humanity? Oh, how wonderful the world would look like if people would be so sensitive to such topics in the media and movies, as they are about an inappropriate relationship in this movie.

Kristen Bell is Leigh, a 29 year old reporter living in New York who suddenly realizes how unhappy she is with her life. Leaving everything behind, she hits the road to return to the small town she grew up in, moves back in with her parents and starts working as a lifeguard.

What could have been a fun comedy about hard working adults trying to go back to being carefree, irresponsible teenagers instead plays out as a bad dramatic comedy that is neither funny or emotionally moving. It's hard to tell whether the screenplay was written by someone who had no idea what they were trying to do or if most of the film is improvised. Kristen Bell seems like a real-life sweetheart and does a good job playing lost and somewhat depressed but it is not any fun or insightful to watch. We are not given any reason to like her character, who comes off as a selfish, lazy spoiled brat.

About half-way through the film takes a turn from boring to morally questionable as the story becomes something you'd find in a soft-core pornographic paperback romance novel. The director tries to play it as sexy but it's just plain uncomfortable. Exactly how much of a selfish spoiled brat Leigh is, as a character, is made clear. Unless you're an older woman with a lust for teenage boys, it's hard not to grow a hate for the character and loose all respect for the film.

The Lifeguard sounds like a good idea for an indie comedy but all potential is lost in the execution and where the writer/director decides to take the story. You're better off picking up a trashy romance novel at your local grocery store.

Liz W. Garcia may not be the most veteran film director out there, but her new movie, The Lifeguard, may very well bring her name to the forefront of director's putting forth real quality work. Garcia is normally a screenwriter which is why I felt that The Lifeguard was a movie that captures the real spirit of people in a quarter life crisis. As I am 22, I felt like I could relate to the struggles, protagonist, Leigh deals with in her effort to relive the simplicity and innocence of her childhood home in Connecticut. Overall, the story is brought to new heights with the outstanding performances by a cast including the likes of Veronica Mar's star Kristen Bell and Freaks and Geeks alum Martin Starr. Garcia really hits home with a story that will resonate with young adults everywhere, reminding us all that growing up never gets any easier.

"Things happen, keep moving or die." Leigh (Bell) is a reporter working for a paper in New York. After writing an article she is passionate about she quits when it won't get published and ends up moving back home. While she is trying to make sense of her life she gets a job as a lifeguard and reconnects with her parents and her old friends. Leigh learns the meaning of 'you can't go home again'. There is a saying you can't judge a book by its cover, after watching this one it should also be applied to movies. Going off the cover I expected a nice light comedy with Kristin Bell playing her usual character. I got the exact opposite. The movie is a heavy drama with very real issues. After moving home she finds that her friends are not who they once were and neither are her parents. She begins a romance with an underage boy at the place where she works which has repercussions for everyone. This is nothing like I expected but I did really like it much more then I expected. Overall, a different movie and role for Bell but it works. Depressing but good. I say B+.

'The Lifeguard' tells the story of Leigh (Kristen Bell), a 29-year-old returning home from New York City after a sense of emptiness shrouds her life. When she takes a job as the local pool lifeguard, she finds Little Jason (David Lambert), a 16-ish year old teenager and becomes emotionally involved with him. What happens after has a cascading effect on the town and her professional career.

Well written and directed film! This, like so many others, takes the idea of a taboo relationship and establishes the how and the why - it does not encourage. If nothing else, 'The Lifeguard' is a tale of how to watch out for your kids and how to control your impulses when met with an opportunity.

Worth a watch!