| Overall Grade: |
C |
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| Story: |
A |
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| Acting: |
A |
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| Direction: |
B |
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| Visuals: |
B- |
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has the parts, but doesnt add up to anything
by __A_YAHOO_USER__ (movies profile)
Jul 16, 2007
26
of
38 people found this review helpful
The Squid and the Whale stars Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney as two parents who after seventeen years of marriage decide to get a divorce. The film then follows their two children and how they react and change dut to the divorce.
First off I wanted to like this movie. I really did. I'm a huge fan of independant/low budget films, and nowadays with Hollywood not being able to spin out a single idea, these films are usually the best ones. And don't get me wrong this is a well-made movie. The script is smart and hillarious. Laura Linney and Jeff Daniels are PHENOMONAL as the two parents. And some of the directions that the script goes in are very creative and keep the movie flowing. No, this is far from a bad movie. Instead my rating is a reflection of how it fell below my expectations, and the film's failure to actually make me care and evoke an emotion in me.
I could've stopped this movie half way through and not cared to know what happened at the end. Atcually now that I think about, I really don't remember what happens at the end. Which is sad becuase I saw it last night. Anyways, I didn't care for a single one of these characters. The performances are strong and good but I just didnt have an emotional connection to the characters. I didn't care what they had to say. I didn't care what they wanted. I didn't care what happened to them at the end of the movie. I just didnt care. And I think that its important in a movie to care, to some degree, about the characters in it. And the actor who was playing the oldest son was so annoying! 10 minutes into the movie I just wanted to punch him in the mouth.
As I bring this review to a close, I want to stress that this is not a bad movie. The script is very well written and full of laughs. The performances from the two leads are top-notch and the direction is very well done. However all of these parts never really add up to anything special or remarkable. This is not a partciularly bad movie, it just isn't a fulfilling one.
5/10 |
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