Perhaps my expectations were needlessly high, given the pairing of Hoffman and Franz, and the fact that David Mamet penned the screenplay from his original Broadway play. But after forcing myself to watch the entire production, I had to go online to figure out if I had missed something crucial that might have some redeeming value.
Unfortunately, what I found online only mirrored what I had experienced. This film has very to little to offer beyond non-stop dialog delivered at a machine gun pace, much of which is missed given the speed of its delivery. And there's no let up for the viewer, no moments to pause and reflect on the content. You can't afford to, lest you might miss the significant development that has to be in here somewhere, the one you keep wishing would finally appear.
But the payoff never comes. But it finally just ends, mercifully, allowing to viewer to wonder why they just wasted their time watching this mind numbing display of a very meager plot augmented only by earthy dialog and very little else. Mamet fans might find some redeeming value here, but for the average viewer, there's very little there, there. Given a choice, sorting my sock drawer has more intellectual stimulation.
Unfortunately, what I found online only mirrored what I had experienced. This film has very to little to offer beyond non-stop dialog delivered at a machine gun pace, much of which is missed given the speed of its delivery. And there's no let up for the viewer, no moments to pause and reflect on the content. You can't afford to, lest you might miss the significant development that has to be in here somewhere, the one you keep wishing would finally appear.
But the payoff never comes. But it finally just ends, mercifully, allowing to viewer to wonder why they just wasted their time watching this mind numbing display of a very meager plot augmented only by earthy dialog and very little else. Mamet fans might find some redeeming value here, but for the average viewer, there's very little there, there. Given a choice, sorting my sock drawer has more intellectual stimulation.