Parents' Guide to

Touchy Feely

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 17+

Disappointing indie drama portrays drug use positively.

Movie R 2013 89 minutes
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It's puzzling that Lynn Shelton followed up her successful Your Sister's Sister with such a strange, muddled failure. Your Sister's Sister was an impressively intuitive movie, totally in touch with its characters, their surroundings, and their inner emotions. TOUCHY FEELY begins as four characters gather for dinner, and it's not entirely clear who they are or how they know one another. This shapeless quality continues throughout, as the movie employs a kind of supernatural device -- Abby's sudden revulsion to skin and Paul's sudden ability to heal -- in a naturalistic setting. What's more, the movie doesn't really go anywhere with these weird changes. Supporting characters, like Page's Jenny, don't have much to do. Shelton incorporates lazy montages and odd dead-ends, and everything comes down to a dreamy, Ecstasy-fueled exploration that simply ends the movie. With such aimlessness, the characters are often lost, and many moments are strained. Only singer Tomo Nakayama provides a moment of gravity.

Movie Details

  • In theaters: September 6, 2013
  • On DVD or streaming: December 10, 2013
  • Cast: Elliot Page, Josh Pais, Rosemarie DeWitt
  • Director: Lynn Shelton
  • Inclusion Information: Non-Binary actors, Queer actors
  • Studio: Magnolia Pictures
  • Genre: Drama
  • Run time: 89 minutes
  • MPAA rating: R
  • MPAA explanation: language, some drug use and brief sexuality
  • Last updated: March 20, 2023

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