Ed's Review Dot Com

Prospero Pictures, Sentient Entertainment, SBS Productions,

Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, John Cusack, Robert Pattinson, Olivia Williams, Evan Bird, Sarah Gadon

The Weiss Family, Dr. Stafford Weiss (John Cusack), shrink to the stars, Benjie (Evan Bird), spoiled rotten child star, wife Christina (Olivia Williams) stage mom of epic proportions, and Agatha (Mia Wasikowska), estranged psycho sister, come together in this most dramatic, dark, comedy you’ve seen in a long time. This is a parody piece making fun of the Hollywood lifestyle while doing it in a seriously warped dramatic way. This family is desperate to maintain their celebrity status no matter what it takes. Throw in a washed up film star Havana Segrand (Julianne Moore) and Limo driver wannabe actor Jerome Fontana (Robert Pattinson) and you have the wacky cast that might bring down the entire Hollywood system as they crash and burn everything and everyone they touch.

A few minutes in to this cockeyed movie you realize you’re being put on. This is told like a true life story until it becomes clear everyone is connected to everyone else in ways you could hardly expect. Very frank and in your face brutal from the language to the really explicit scenes to the actual story, everything is rude and crude. There is a fairly good deal of humor in it all, but it’s like an inside joke for those in one the inside, unless you’re a Hollywood Celebrity yourself, it may not really make a lot of sense. Much like my review of “Birdman (or the unexpected virtue of ignorance)” this feels like you’re an outsider at at insider party and you are not welcome. Perhaps I’m wrong, but this is how I felt through this whole thing. It was used to watching news on TV, but when my wife started turning on “Good Morning ” I hated it. It felt like a party was going on and I was watching in through the window. A lot of jokes and dancing and laughing going on and I didn’t know any of it. That was the feeling I got in this movie. Perhaps I’m being a little bit harsh, as it wasn’t really terrible, but I just didn’t really get into it. I never found myself “in” the story and it was mostly just over my head. I gave this a 3 star review because of the quality of the performances of the actors in this film, but I don’t really recommend it unless you are interested in the subject or the actors.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog