| Overall Grade: |
D- |
|
| Story: |
F |
|
|
| Acting: |
D |
|
|
| Direction: |
C |
|
|
| Visuals: |
B |
|
|
Are you ready for an honest full-blown review?
by Aaron (movies profile)
Dec 27, 2008
148
of
259 people found this review helpful
Okay, I never write reviews but after reading some of the inebriated reviewers on yahoo, I had to give an analysis of this movie. I had high hopes for this movie and convinced my wife to hire a babysitter so we could see it. So here is my take-home breakdown:
hOles in the plOt!!!!:
First off after Benjamin and Daisy have their baby, he leaves because "she can't raise two babies"????? They were both 43 when she finds out she's pregnant (how she got pregnant at that age is actually rare without some professional medical intervention). If my math his correct and she is growing old and he is growing young, then by the time the baby was born he would be 42. Let's say he sticks around and raises his daughter. By the time she is 18 (ready to leave the house) he would be 24. He can't be a father at that age, but he can show up for a one-night stand with a later married cate?????? GIVE ME A BREAK!!!
Another thing that bugged me was that after he left to travel the world as a hippie loser (?????) he sends postcards saying he wishes he had been at certain occasions in his daughter's life. Me and my wife sat there and said, "then why doesn't he get off his vagabond ass, and go home to be a father" It isn't like he is in diapers or something. Why he cruises on his motorcycle and fixes his bandanna, his wife is left raising his daughter that he is perfectly capable of doing. I am a father of a young daughter, and I can tell you that I would never just take off like that, no matter what.
What compounded the pain in watching this is when the movie tried to ram-rod a sentimental score with each irrational transition. I just rolled my eyes and tried to weather the director's attempt to manipulate emotions.
DOES ANYBODY GET MARRIED ANYMORE?
I may be the only one who noticed this, but I have a feeling that anybody with an ounce of virtue also recognized this. Benjamin's adopted mother slept and got pregnant with Mr. weathers but never bothered to tie the knot. Benjamin slept with countless women and had an affair with a married women, and somehow it was portrayed as a learning/growing experience for the both of them. Where was the remorse? Where was the pain and guilt that unequivocally attends those who have broken marriage vows? Not in this movie!!! Instead it is portrayed as a "necessary step" for both of them to grow and become better. Huhhh??? And Benjamin and Daisy never bother to get married. Instead it shows them constantly rolling around having endless euphoric sex. And then to make matters worse Benjamin shows up after Daisy DOES get married (to a good guy) to have a night of more adulterated sex. Again I was just plain annoyed with all the casual sex that was portrayed as good and natural.
THE OLD HAG IN THE BED:
Every time it would cut to one of her scenes, I would find myself checking the time. I could hardly understand a word she said and it seemed as if she was about to go into a cardiac arrest every scene. There was something painful about hearing her try to piece together words to make a broken sentence. Kind of like listening to somebody with throat cancer cough and wheeze through a sentence. Then Julia Ormond (who was smoking-hot in Leg. of the Fall) would somehow save her by reading from the journal. Another one of my "favorite" parts is when she found out BB was her real father. "This is how you tell me?" followed by an attempted cigarette (in a hospital!!!!). But wait, all is well within a few minutes and she is back to reading the story to perpetuate her mom's life.
Lastly, the visuals were good, but were buried underneath the ridiculous plot and endless casual sex scenes. The chemistry between brad pitt and cate blanchette was mediocre at best.
Overall, people with half a brain and some deductive reasoning skills will find this movie not only bad, but painful. Save your money and wait for it to be shown on one of the networks. (Yeah, that's right, I wouldn't even rent it). |
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