Director: Jeremy Teicher
Writer: Nick Kroll, Alexi Pappas, Jeremy Teicher (Screenplay)
Starring: Nick Kroll, Alexi Pappas, Gus Kenworthy, Morgan Schild, Jamie Anderson
Plot: In the Olympic Athlete Village, a young cross-country skier bonds with a volunteer doctor after her competition ends.
Runtime: 1 Hour 25 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Olympic Dreams starts as a cross country skier Penelope (Pappas) heads to South Korea for the Winter Olympics, she doesn’t know anyone, but this is the biggest moment of her career, Ezra (Kroll) is a volunteer dentist who sees this as a chance to break away from his dying relationship, to see the world and help the athletes.
Both are feeling alone in the Olympic village and meet each other, both a different stages of their lives, just looking for a new friend to help them enjoy their time there, a friendship that might be more if they let it.
Thoughts on Olympic Dreams
Characters – Ezra is a dentist that has volunteered for the Olympics, he finds himself not quite fitting in with the athletes, not making any friends, while trying to figure out if his relationship back home is going to continue or not, he wants things to work out, but deep down he knows things are not going to work out. The only person he manages to connect with his Penelope, but he is court up in the middle of moving forward with life, or going back to something he doesn’t know if he wants anymore, Penelope is a cross country skier who like Ezra struggles to fit in with the fellow athletes, she makes a couple of friends, but with her event over early, she is left wandering the village and city in hope of finding more from her life.
Performances – Nick Kroll and Alexi Pappas are both great together and alone, they both show the loneliness their characters are facing, while showing how much it means to be around someone that makes them feel safe in a place they never knew.
Story – The story here follows two different people, one an athlete, the other a dentist who are taking part in the Olympics, with them both in a world they don’t know anyone and somehow they end up meeting and finding themselves in a location they never thought they would have. This does show us more of the behind the scenes of being involved in the Olympics, with how despite being around your peers, you might not know anyone, being left to fend for yourself. It shows how two people can come together in a place they would never imagine, from a different background and find, teach and learn how to want more from life.
Comedy/Romance – The comedy is more everyday life comedy, we don’t get laugh out loud moments, while the romance in the film is more about the almost in life, what could happen, in places you never know.
Settings – The film is set in and around the Winter Olympics in South Korea, we get to see how people will interact in the Olympic village as well as wanting to explore the city, seeing how people will always sbe drawn to somewhere new.
Scene of the Movie – Night out.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – We don’t really see any of the sport.
Final Thoughts – This is a charming romantic comedy that brings life to an everyday look at love over anything else, showing people can meet anywhere in life.
