The Institute (2017) Reviews

• The Institute: Yawn

  Platypuschow2018-12-22

  The Institute is a thriller starring James Franco and Eric Roberts and had me bored, frustrated and simply not interested throughout. Based very very very very loosely on a true story it follows a girl who commits herself into an asylum after a tragedy only to find out that nefarious dealings go on within its walls. Franco not only stars but directs here and many don't realize he's been directing for over a decade now! I just personally don't think he's very good at it, and quite frankly I don't like seeing him in front of the camera either. I get what the movie is doing and the concept is passable enough, sadly the execution is lacking and meanders through its 90 minute runtime at a grindy boring pace. It has its moments and that finale was quite inspired but entertaining? Hardly. I'm sure had we known the truth about what truth happened in the real Rosewood center that would have been for a more interesting tale. The Good: Decent finale The Bad: Simply unlikable James Franco Things I Learnt From This Movie: I'll never understand why people adapt true stories and turn them into fiction anyway I don't like James Franco's face

• A Complete Mess

  nebk2017-03-06

  The Institute is sadly a mess of a movie and might leave the viewer seeking professional help to deal with the trauma of watching it. OK, so its not that bad but it could and should have been much better. It deals with the story of a young girl called Isabel checking herself into the Rosewood institute to deal with the grief of loosing both of her parents. The institute at first appears like a high end spa for very wealthy women but it soon becomes apparent that there are sinister characters and forces abusing some of the women who are patients at the hospital. There are some quite well known names in the film like James Franco,Tim Blake Nelson, Eric Roberts, Lori Singer, Josh Duhamel and Pamela Anderson but for the most part these are cameos and the rest of the cast is relatively unknown. The dialogue is at times flat and at other times it is cringe-worthy (mentioning the healing process over and over) and the story loses momentum very quickly. The story also seems mashed up as if different movies have been mixed up. Is it a psychological thriller or a gory horror. There is pseudo philosophical discussion and there is nudity, whipping and secret orders which control everything. As if the film makers wanted to include as much as possible and yet ended up watering everything down. Some of the other issues are for example that the main character exhibits no real grief even though she admitted herself to the hospital for this and other "latent maladies" such as curiosity and flights of fancy. The doctor treating her says there is nothing wrong with her and then proceeds to treat her and feed her tonics and medication together with therapy and brain washing. There are a few twists as is to be expected but in the end the movie still appears nonsensical. The fact that this film is supposedly based on real events makes it even worse as the film makers didn't even respect what the real people went through. Overall a complete mess.

• Sufficiently creepy, but very odd

  mancinibrown2017-07-20

  The Institute is VERY loosely based on a true story. The true story of the Rosewood Center is strange enough on its own. A mental health institution whose patients were taken by the rich as slaves. The movie takes the idea of being used by the rich, but keeps it within the walls of the building itself. Isabel (Allie Gallerani) checks into Rosewood on her doctor's orders for grief and anxiety. When meeting Dr. Cairn (James Franco) the doctor takes her under his wing and makes her his star patient. He works on breaking her entirely to the point where she doesn't know who she is, and can become someone else as part of a performance for the rich. It's all illogical, but if you can just go along with it, the performances allow for the creepiness to come through. It definitely won't be for everyone, and some may hate it, but there is more to it than originally thought.

• I don't understand why this movie has such a bad rating

  igindelberger2017-06-25

  If I had to guess, it is probably because James Franco fans watched it because he was in it, without knowing what to expect, and were unpleasantly surprised. It wasn't a terrible movie. It had been a while since I've watched it but the only reason I'm even on the IMDb page is because I was thinking about downloading it again to watch it with my wife (who doesn't like scary movies, but does like movies about crazy people, go figure) and she wanted to read some reviews. After reading the reviews, and then us downloading it and watching the movie anyway, I decided that I had to come back to let people know, I enjoyed it the second time, and my wife loved the movie (she wanted me to give it a 9) so I guess, make up your own mind. All I know is, the 4.0 rating doesn't do it justice!

• Nevermore

  nogodnomasters2017-07-24

  In 1893 Baltimore, Isabel Porter (Allie Gallerani) has been out of sorts since the passing of her parents. Eric Roberts convinces her and her brother that she could get the finest care at Baltimore's upscale Rosewood Institute where she could get some R&R. The doctors have brain washing practices facilitated by a drug whose content we discover at 50 minutes into the film. At this point the movie descends into an improbable Poe feature complete with a pendulum. Serious,"based on true stories" and they have a freaking pendulum from the Inquisition. The acting was mediocre for a horrible script that lacked depth. The characters were a bit shallow, and did women shave their hooch in the 19th century? Just asking. No reason. (Psst. Thank you Allie.) There was a Rosewood Institute. It was for feeble minded children ages 7-17 some with autism which hadn't been "discovered" as yet. The girls were adopted by the rich and used as slaves, some as sex slaves. It was not an upscale center for adults. The rites and practices that went on there, including the freaking pendulum was not exactly historical. In fact the film would have been better served in a non-historical setting. I mean a zombie-vampire apocalypse would not have made the film any less historical. James Franco-why? The film includes a lot of good actors plus Eric Roberts and Pamela Anderson. No swearing. 3 stars for the nudity (Allie Gallerani, Zoe Bleu, +others)