Touchy Feely

R

Released Sep 6, 2013

1 hr. 29 min.

Comedy

Drama

List

42%

64 Reviews

Tomatometer

22%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

A dentist (Josh Pais) gains the ability to heal his patients' physical pain while his sister (Rosemarie DeWitt), a massage therapist, develops an aversion to touching and being touched.

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Critics Consensus

Well-acted but overly quirky, Touchy Feely is a tonally uneven dramedy with some interesting ideas but a lack of follow-through.

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Audience Member

I thought the acting was really good but I'm not sure what this movie was really about.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This is yet another Indie film which deflects the repressed behaviors and dilemmas of middle class American families. The fine cast does their best with the material, but this light weight fable makes little sense as plotlines are swept under the carpet, or else forgotten by the screen writer. So for this being a very slow moving film, and losing my interest in half of the movie, and as my review says everything of how I feel about this film, I give " Touchey Feely " a D-.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

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steve d

The plot is forgettable the characters paper thin. Nothing interesting happens and then in mercifully ends.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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Audience Member

I think it would have been better if it was about Ellen Page's character, because she was more engaging than the rest of the cast, though I liked Allison Janney and Scott McNairy - also not main characters. One thing that really bugged me though was the film's lack of knowledge about reiki. Suddenly, without trying, Paul's dental patients magically have their TMJ cured. This happens in one visit. There's an implication that Paul is inadvertently doing reiki, but that ain't how it works. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned that. I'm also surprised that the writer/director didn't make more of an effort to understand it or at least run her script by someone who does reiki.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I think the most disappointing thing about Touchy Feely is that it really could have been great. It features interesting ideas and has great performances, especially by Pais and the criminally underutilized but always fantastic Ellen Page. However, the film is bogged down by boring scenes and little to no character development. The film has a fantastic scene near the end involving a guitar, and I finally thought that it was going to become good. However, literally 5 minutes later the movie ended. It is not a terrible movie, but wastes great potential with pointless scenes and terrible decisions.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/19/23

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Audience Member

It is a well-acted film and there are some really lovely moments, but even as a fan of Lynn Shelton's work, "Touchy Feely" is tonally, and narratively, all over the place. I feel like something went wrong during the production, and she had to somehow make things seem watchable. It starts out solid, but it loses its control afterwards and it got very confusing. It's an underwhelming film.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

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Lynn Shelton

Director

Rosemarie DeWitt

Abby

Allison Janney

Bronwyn

Ron Livingston

Adrian

Scoot McNairy

Jesse

Elliot Page

Jenny

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Mark Kermode

Observer (UK)

Innocuous then, but sadly lacking the wit and insight of Shelton's far superior Your Sister's Sister.

Rated: 2/5

May 18, 2014

Full Review

David Jenkins

Little White Lies

Decent performances, but the film as a whole is a dramatic and thematic mess.

Rated: 2/5

May 15, 2014

Full Review

Leslie Felperin

Guardian

The semi-improvised dialogue has the juicy tang of authenticity in the hands of this highly competent cast, and the players and Shelton never sneer at the characters' new-agey beliefs.

Rated: 3/5

May 15, 2014

Full Review

Richard Crouse

Richard Crouse

A character study about fear of intimacy that makes up for the listless story with atmosphere and wonderful, naturalistic performances

Rated: 3/5

Jan 31, 2021

Full Review

MaryAnn Johanson

Flick Filosopher

Rosemarie DeWitt is heartbreakingly lovely.

Oct 7, 2020

Full Review

Debbie Lynn Elias

Behind The Lens

Touchy Feely is a warm and fuzzy celebration of Lynn Shelton's maturing as a filmmaker.

Jan 7, 2020

Full Review

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Synopsis

A dentist (Josh Pais) gains the ability to heal his patients' physical pain while his sister (Rosemarie DeWitt), a massage therapist, develops an aversion to touching and being touched.

Director: Lynn Shelton
Executive Producer: Dashiell Gantner
Screenwriter: Lynn Shelton
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
Rating: R (Some Drug Use|Language|Brief Sexuality)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 6, 2013, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 6, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA): $36.0K

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