daimonmagus
Joined Jul 2001
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Reviews9
daimonmagus's rating
This is just one more of those hideous films that you find on Lifetime TV which portray the abhorrent behavior of some disgusting woman in an empathetic manner. Along with other such nasty films as "The Burning Bed," "Enough," or "Monster," this film takes a disgusting criminal and attempts to show the viewer why she's not such a bad person after all. Give us a break! Here's my question to the filmmakers: If LeTourneau were a man, and Vili were a 12 year old girl, would you have made a picture sympathizing and empathizing with this person? Answer: Hell no.
Imagine switching the genders in this film, and then you'll see just why myself and others here consider this a worthless piece of garbage. Were the genders switched, there would be no attempt to empathize with the criminal. Instead, we'd likely be treated to a portrayal of a monstrous and hideous man preying upon a young girl, his lascivious behavior landing him in prison, and his brainwashed victim suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. The only reason LeTourneau does not receive the same treatment in this film is by virtue of her sex.
Let's call a spade a spade. LeTourneau is a pedophile. Plain and simple. No ifs, ands or buts. She's a criminal who belongs in prison, and deserves our derision and contempt, but certainly not our pity or empathy.
Imagine switching the genders in this film, and then you'll see just why myself and others here consider this a worthless piece of garbage. Were the genders switched, there would be no attempt to empathize with the criminal. Instead, we'd likely be treated to a portrayal of a monstrous and hideous man preying upon a young girl, his lascivious behavior landing him in prison, and his brainwashed victim suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. The only reason LeTourneau does not receive the same treatment in this film is by virtue of her sex.
Let's call a spade a spade. LeTourneau is a pedophile. Plain and simple. No ifs, ands or buts. She's a criminal who belongs in prison, and deserves our derision and contempt, but certainly not our pity or empathy.
When I saw the cast and the advertisements, I thought this would be a great film. I didn't catch it in the theater. I waited for cable, and boy am I glad I didn't pay for this one.
I've only walked out of one film I paid for in my whole life (Ready to Wear), but had I paid for this, I would have walked out.
The opening of the film was genius, but it deteriorated rapidly. This film was boring, pretentious, dull, and an overall waste of two perfectly good hours of one's life. I couldn't believe that this many good actors would sign on to this script. What were they thinking? One has to assume that either they read another script and it was changed, or that they were offered god-awful sums of money to participate in this fiasco.
How this rates a 7.6 out of 10, I'll never guess. Who is rating this thing above a 5? I gave it a 4. I would only recommend that you watch this if you are incredibly bored and there is nothing else on cable.
This film wants to be an art film, but it fails. One of my friends who is an avid film buff once told me: "I love well done films, but sometimes directors get so full of themselves that they create an overly pretentious mouthpiece for their supposed genius." This is just such a film. I got the feeling that Wes Anderson was giving his best attempt to demonstrate his infallible genius rather than to actually make a great film.
If you want to see a great film...in the kind of genre and tone this film wanted to be...then I sincerely recommend you watch Being John Malkovich or Adaptation instead. Charlie Kaufmann is a genius, but after seeing The Royal Tenenbaums, I have to conclude that Wes Anderson wanted to prove he could do something on the same level as Being John Malkovich, and made an incredibly dull film instead.
Okay, so enough ranting.... On the good side, the costumes are entertaining, the sets are unusual, and the actors turn in decent performances given that they had utter garbage to work with in the script.
I've only walked out of one film I paid for in my whole life (Ready to Wear), but had I paid for this, I would have walked out.
The opening of the film was genius, but it deteriorated rapidly. This film was boring, pretentious, dull, and an overall waste of two perfectly good hours of one's life. I couldn't believe that this many good actors would sign on to this script. What were they thinking? One has to assume that either they read another script and it was changed, or that they were offered god-awful sums of money to participate in this fiasco.
How this rates a 7.6 out of 10, I'll never guess. Who is rating this thing above a 5? I gave it a 4. I would only recommend that you watch this if you are incredibly bored and there is nothing else on cable.
This film wants to be an art film, but it fails. One of my friends who is an avid film buff once told me: "I love well done films, but sometimes directors get so full of themselves that they create an overly pretentious mouthpiece for their supposed genius." This is just such a film. I got the feeling that Wes Anderson was giving his best attempt to demonstrate his infallible genius rather than to actually make a great film.
If you want to see a great film...in the kind of genre and tone this film wanted to be...then I sincerely recommend you watch Being John Malkovich or Adaptation instead. Charlie Kaufmann is a genius, but after seeing The Royal Tenenbaums, I have to conclude that Wes Anderson wanted to prove he could do something on the same level as Being John Malkovich, and made an incredibly dull film instead.
Okay, so enough ranting.... On the good side, the costumes are entertaining, the sets are unusual, and the actors turn in decent performances given that they had utter garbage to work with in the script.
I have to agree with a lot of the other comments here on IMDB. This movie was a bit like a Lifetime movie in terms of plot and theme.
The performances, however, were brilliant. Lohmmann was just incredible. I found Astrid a completely believable character. I really wanted to see her new film with Nicholas Cage after seeing this film. She pulled off a really great performance. Pfeiffer also comes off great as the highly intelligent, but manipulative bitch of a mother.
The performances, however, were brilliant. Lohmmann was just incredible. I found Astrid a completely believable character. I really wanted to see her new film with Nicholas Cage after seeing this film. She pulled off a really great performance. Pfeiffer also comes off great as the highly intelligent, but manipulative bitch of a mother.