'1' might seem an unduly harsh rating for this movie. After all, there are probably worse movies out there. But as far as i am concerned, if a movie is so bad it leaves you depressed and hollow inside, mourning the precious precious time that could have been spent memorizing the first 100 digits of pi, it is bad enough.
The back of the box already gives you a warning. "A film in the style of the Cohen Brothers" it claims. When will i ever learn? I don't believe I fell for that. Real filmmakers don't want to be compared to other contemporary filmmakers, they want to stand on their own. A Cohen Brothers film compared to this is like comparing a Mozart symphony to a car alarm.
This was one of those movies which attempts to be witty and edgy, the pitch was probably something like "The Bigh Lebowski meets Fight Club". For example, there is a scene where the main character is fired by his boss, and he pulls a gun on him. Then, big surprise, its revealed that never happened outside his imagination. The problem is that the boss was so cartoonishly odious that pulling a gun on him seems like an understatement. The scene fell flat, it wasn't surprising or shocking in the least.
The dialog is peppered with attempts at wittiness and edginess, unfortunately it uniformly fails to be either. For instance, there was a little exchange that went something like: "His name is Fred Thomas." "So has two first names?" "Yes, what's your point." "No point, just making an observation." This little exchange had no point other than to bask in its own wittiness. Handled well, this might have been a barely acceptable stab at Pulp Fiction-like verbal interplay. It wasn't, it was so painfully awkward and unfunny that i felt embarrassed watching it.
The movie is full of hollow and pointless "edgy" stylistic touches, like random pauses and fast forwards. The soundtrack slavishly plays to current teenage trendiness. The 'the dude' analog was shill and obnoxious. I haven't mentioned the plot, because it is not worth mentioning. Very very little happens before the pathetically contrived series of twists at the end.
Avoid at all costs, not seeing this movie is worth at least $75.
The back of the box already gives you a warning. "A film in the style of the Cohen Brothers" it claims. When will i ever learn? I don't believe I fell for that. Real filmmakers don't want to be compared to other contemporary filmmakers, they want to stand on their own. A Cohen Brothers film compared to this is like comparing a Mozart symphony to a car alarm.
This was one of those movies which attempts to be witty and edgy, the pitch was probably something like "The Bigh Lebowski meets Fight Club". For example, there is a scene where the main character is fired by his boss, and he pulls a gun on him. Then, big surprise, its revealed that never happened outside his imagination. The problem is that the boss was so cartoonishly odious that pulling a gun on him seems like an understatement. The scene fell flat, it wasn't surprising or shocking in the least.
The dialog is peppered with attempts at wittiness and edginess, unfortunately it uniformly fails to be either. For instance, there was a little exchange that went something like: "His name is Fred Thomas." "So has two first names?" "Yes, what's your point." "No point, just making an observation." This little exchange had no point other than to bask in its own wittiness. Handled well, this might have been a barely acceptable stab at Pulp Fiction-like verbal interplay. It wasn't, it was so painfully awkward and unfunny that i felt embarrassed watching it.
The movie is full of hollow and pointless "edgy" stylistic touches, like random pauses and fast forwards. The soundtrack slavishly plays to current teenage trendiness. The 'the dude' analog was shill and obnoxious. I haven't mentioned the plot, because it is not worth mentioning. Very very little happens before the pathetically contrived series of twists at the end.
Avoid at all costs, not seeing this movie is worth at least $75.
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