In I Feel Fine Ozzy Taylor, a charismatic high school teen, discovers he can’t control his intrusive thoughts, setting off a life-changing shift in his destiny.

First and foremost this is a film about mental illness. This is a film about mental illness as a teenager when life is hard enough as it is. This is a film about mental illness and a stark reminder that despite getting all the help available the outcome of mental illness is often far from positive. 

In all honesty I saw the ‘stars’ of the cast and made assumptions before I started watching it. Certain actors almost guarantee a film is likely to be far from great. Thankfully this time my assumptions were definitely wrong. I’m not claiming this a truly great film by any means, but it is definitely worth a watch. 

I Feel Fine is a movie of two halves. The first half is a little slow and feels more of an amateur production. Eventually, the emotional beats kick in and the film starts to hit and hit hard. The second half is a far more powerful beast and provides some exceptionally deep and powerful moments. 

One thing I did notice while watching this was the vibe I was getting from the way it was made. It felt very much like they were trying to capture the magic of films from the 80s. The music, the way it was filmed and the outfits and props evoked so many memories of films I watched as I was growing up. The directors/writers, Hailey and Austin Spicer, have created an emotional minefield by stripping bare the thought processes of a young man struggling with a mind that is fighting against him. 

The majority of the cast are fine. There are some good performances, and some that are reasonable, but the star of the film is Elijah Passmore as Ozzy.  He brings a depth of maturity to a character who hasn’t fully grown up, yet is still facing a pain that many grown-ups simply couldn’t handle. Passmore faced a difficult task with this film because creating a realistic performance of a character like this, with the issues he has, would tax the longest-serving actors. Passmore does a really rather superb job. 

Overall, this is a film in two parts that gets better as it goes along. When it hits with the emotions it is a solid gut punch that is really powerful. When it misses, which it does at times, it is pretty wide of the mark. It’s neither a bad film, nor is it an outstanding film, but the way I felt by the end is the reason I’m giving it 3/5.

It’s a film that you need to be prepared to watch if you have ever struggled with a mind that feels like it hates you. 

A Movie of Two Halves

Movie title: I Feel Fine (2024)

Movie description: Ozzy Taylor, a charismatic high school teen, discovers he can't control his intrusive thoughts, setting off a life-changing shift in his destiny.

Date published: January 27, 2025

Country: UK

Duration: 1h 48m

Director(s): Austin Spicer, Hailey Spicer

Actor(s): Elijah Passmore, Corin Nemec, Nandi Summers

Genre: Drama

3

Summary

It’s a film you must be prepared to watch if you have ever struggled with a mind that feels like it hates you.

Simon Henderson

Simon Henderson began his journey with his podcast, Inspire Indie Radio, set up to promote independent, and unsigned, artists and help get their music out to other audiences. This is a big passion of his and something he is very proud to do.

One of his other big passions is movies and he followed up the podcast with movie reviews “from the mind of an average guy” on Tumblr. After a while he wanted to bring everything together under one name and so he chose Average Guy Entertainments because, as he is oft quoted as saying, “I’m just an Average Guy.”