This movie has a charm to it that I don’t believe it
deserves. There are a lot of layers to
this movie that I believe are trying to be something great and really
aren’t. Like constant prayer sequences
or sex commentary and right-wing commentary and a lot of half-baked ideas that
I don’t feel are completely realized.
Which is too bad. Those things
get in the way of what was an interesting movie.
It should come as no surprise that the sequences that were actually
about the butter carving were the most entertaining and interesting. The second act sequence with the four ladies
competing for different reasons to win this butter carving competition was
wonderful to watch. Beyond that, there
was a lot of “quirk” throughout the film between the butter sequences that just
fell flat for me.
I need to praise a lot of the actors, though. Rob Corddry, Alicia Silverstone, Olivia
Wilde, and Yara Shahidi were all just great, really really great. I didn’t care about Jennifer Garner or Ty
Burrell, which did make their sections of the plot hard to sit through. They are written fine, but I just do not
gravitate well to dysfunctional cheating husbands and wives who get no
comeuppance. My fault I guess.
In the end, this movie was way better than expected, but it
was uneven because I couldn’t get into half of the film’s characters and
plots. I loved the other half, and the
second act was super strong. Other than
that, I am fine that I have seen it and don’t really plan to see it again. People that can get behind the main marital
plot will probably really get into this flick, though.
Grade: B-
Huh, I feel like maybe a documentary on an actual butter sculpting contest would have wound up being more interesting. Excessive quirkiness really is irritating.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with it is that a lot of not-very-good writers use "quirkiness" to cover for not being insightful, clever, or original. There are some things that use "quirk" well, but for the most part, the real problems I had were with the characters and plot, not the quirk. Hard to be angry at a film's quirk women when it actually focuses on (mostly) intriguing women characters almost exclusively.
DeleteCool. Good points. Sounds like something I might end up enjoying after all.
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