Which is a startling achievement.
The definition of smug is "having or showing an excessive pride in oneself or one's achievements." And this strange, self-conscious, and terribly annoying film takes that notion to levels I have never seen.
Which is saying something because I watch (and review) a lot of films.
The smugness is so extreme that -- a horrible failing for a reviewer -- I am at pains to describe it.
It uses devices to enhance its smugness which, when the script was initially being pitched to the money guys, must have sounded positively brilliant, but, in reality, are as much fun as a root canal.
It starts with massive backstory -- but. then gives you a giant screen caption "backstory" so YOU know the WRITER KNOWS that this. and therefore you are part of an INSIDE JOKE.
It dispenses clichés like an ATM that has taken a lightening strike. Memories of a sexy babysitter, a mother who abandoned the narrator, friends who want to go to Malaysia because the women there appreciate under-sized appendages ("and you can rip them up"); old girlfriends who, after a single phone call, will meet you at a street corner, hop in your car, and perform an oral act below window level while the local cop nods approvingly....
It is almost as if --- this seems to be the real story -- someone in Hollywood, on a dare, was asked to take the worst script he could find and get it produced with a handful of A-List stars.
And actually won the bet.
I like to talk about "connection" in my reviews and how important it is for the viewer to relate to the material on screen. The only way for a viewer to connect with this film is if the viewer is currently institutionalized for psychotic narcissism.
Perhaps I am not being clear. This is not merely a bad film, because a lot of Indies are called that when in fact they actually represent someone's attempt to make a really good film ... which failed.
This is a bad film because someone who considers themselves smarter than everyone else in the room went out of their way to prove it.
Which, as I said, makes it the smuggest film ever made.
(Go back to top line of review. Wash. Repeat.)
The definition of smug is "having or showing an excessive pride in oneself or one's achievements." And this strange, self-conscious, and terribly annoying film takes that notion to levels I have never seen.
Which is saying something because I watch (and review) a lot of films.
The smugness is so extreme that -- a horrible failing for a reviewer -- I am at pains to describe it.
It uses devices to enhance its smugness which, when the script was initially being pitched to the money guys, must have sounded positively brilliant, but, in reality, are as much fun as a root canal.
It starts with massive backstory -- but. then gives you a giant screen caption "backstory" so YOU know the WRITER KNOWS that this. and therefore you are part of an INSIDE JOKE.
It dispenses clichés like an ATM that has taken a lightening strike. Memories of a sexy babysitter, a mother who abandoned the narrator, friends who want to go to Malaysia because the women there appreciate under-sized appendages ("and you can rip them up"); old girlfriends who, after a single phone call, will meet you at a street corner, hop in your car, and perform an oral act below window level while the local cop nods approvingly....
It is almost as if --- this seems to be the real story -- someone in Hollywood, on a dare, was asked to take the worst script he could find and get it produced with a handful of A-List stars.
And actually won the bet.
I like to talk about "connection" in my reviews and how important it is for the viewer to relate to the material on screen. The only way for a viewer to connect with this film is if the viewer is currently institutionalized for psychotic narcissism.
Perhaps I am not being clear. This is not merely a bad film, because a lot of Indies are called that when in fact they actually represent someone's attempt to make a really good film ... which failed.
This is a bad film because someone who considers themselves smarter than everyone else in the room went out of their way to prove it.
Which, as I said, makes it the smuggest film ever made.
(Go back to top line of review. Wash. Repeat.)