carpe-dm68

A frustrating, poorly-written mis-use of talented actors.

The movie gets off to a promising start: there is a 'meet-cute' that is intentionally not cute to get Jonah Hill's Ezra together with Lauren London's Amira - it's a refreshing approach, and a sign of the potential to deal with some difficult racial issues in a humorous way. And the couple are initially quite cute and likeable together. Ezra's rapport with his podcast co-host Mo is also well-done but ends up being under-utilized. But the movie really goes off the rails when the parents (Eddie Murphy, Nia Long, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, David Duchovny) are introduced to their respective son- and daughter-in-law-to-be. But this is not the fault of the actors - well, except for Jonah Hill since he had a role in writing this claptrap. The movie's potential is not realized because the screenplay places the characters in predictably ridiculous situations in which they react in completely inauthentic, unbelievable ways designed only to manufacture broad humor that almost always falls flat. That goes on for nearly 1.5 hours before the movie partially redeems itself with a satisfying confrontation scene that finally(!) gets at these issues in an insightful way. Then comes the standard, tacked-on happy resolution. But it's too little, too late.

This is the best all-around show of any genre on television since the first 9 seasons of the Simpsons. I started watching it knowing practically nothing about it, but thinking it sounded really stupid. I gave it a chance anyway and got hooked. It's definitely true that you need to get past the first half of season 1 to REALLY understand the greatness of this show. I won't say more than this: it starts as a silly, *adult* cartoon parody of celebrity, but quickly turns into a dark, highly effective meditation on self-loathing, depression, and substance abuse. And unlike other popular recent shows, the series ending does NOT disappoint.

This is the best adaptation of Little Women ever. The acting is top notch all around. In particular, I had always been bewildered by the transfer of affection.

But Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, and Timothee Chalamet made their characters make sense like no others have before. Eliza Scanlen does a great job as well. I don't think the story benefited from cutting up the timeline and showing it in flashbacks, but it didn't suffer much for it either.