Reviews

I decided to give this movie a shot since it's supposed to be an amazing piece of filmmaking and a classic. If you've read any other negative reviews then you've heard other people complain about how boring, slow paced and pretentious it is. The plot is a big question mark and there are scenes that draw on for an eternity. Add in numerous scenes with ear piercing noice and sound effects, it's just a really unenjoyable movie. Isn't the point of watching a movie to be entertained and enjoy ourselves?? I forced myself to sit through this and it felt like work, like I should be getting paid.

I can't completely trash it though. It's incredibly beautiful visually. I can't believe a movie this old has such good effects and looks this good. The sets are also very impressive.

All in all though, I can't ever recommend this to anyone. I wish I hadn't wasted 2+ hours on it. The first 15 minutes is either black screen, silence, or apes screeching at each other for god sakes. This is a movie that "deep" people claim to like to make themselves seem more cultured. Deuce Bigalo is 100 times more enjoyable. But to each their own I guess.

I wanted to turn this off, but considering it was 10pm on a Sunday night and I had work tomorrow, I decided I was too deep to look for another movie and chose to tough it out. My main gripe, none of these characters are likable. In fact, most of them I found myself hating. Chris Pine is a wannabe hotshot selfish asshole douche and it's hard to invest any interest in him. The kid is a smart mouthed little shit, who if he was my kid, would NEVER talk to me the way he does to strangers and especially his own mother. The plot is not that complex yet it drags on and on, you just want it to be over already. I'm honestly shocked at how many people gave this film a good score and actually wrote glowing reviews about it. Maybe I don't get it, but I guess I'm glad about that.

So without getting too deep, I had passed over this movie many times on Netflix and didn't really look into until yesterday. Curious, I finally clicked on it and noticed it has a really great cast. In short, this is a great movie that moves at a good speed. The acting is good and there is a great dynamic between all the main actors. There are no boring lulls and it doesn't drag on. It also doesn't make you think (that may sound bad but sometimes you just want to be entertained) and you really care about each of the characters. If you want something that you can enjoy watching that makes you feel good, this is a great pick. I wish I hadn't waited so long.

My girlfriend and I went to see this movie when it was in theaters. We met a friend there who was visiting from out of town and he paid for our tickets. Despite that being the situation, my girlfriend, exercising better judgment that I, leaned over to me and whispered "I can't sit here and watch this trash". I was immediately moved by her moral gesture and decided to follow her out, with our friend staying behind to watch the rest. We had only gotten about 30 minutes in. But it was more than enough. I have never seen anything so raunchy from a Hollywood film, especially in theaters.

To be honest, I recently let my curiosity get the best of me and I watched a bit more of it on Netflix but it left me feeling the same way as before. I had to rate it at least 5 stars because after all, you can't rate every movie you dislike one star as though its the worst film ever made, nor can you rate every good movie a ten. I does have a lot of really talented actors and it was a visually well made, high budget movie so 5 stars feel fair. If they limited the F bombs to a reasonable level and left out the "just short of porn" sex scenes then I would have really liked this film.

However, it's just so filthy and raunchy, it's insulting. They can't go more than a sentence without saying the F-word. The over the top sex scenes and overall crudeness of the movie gets old very fast and your just sitting there like "oh come on! seriously?!" It seems as though Leo DiCaprio can't do a movie anymore unless he's playing a despicable foul mouthed pig. I'm not someone who won't watch a movie because of language or violence or nudity, but this movie is just so over the top that I can't sit through it and feel good about myself.

If you have no moral boundaries and no ethical compass, and nothing bothers or offends you, then this is probably a highly entertaining and enjoyable movie. I'm sure if I spoke like the characters in this film and lived a shameless existence like them, I would probably be writing a very different review. But thankfully I'm not like them and I can thank my conscience for that.