There was stuff I liked, it made me laugh a fair bit, Clooney is always great and Jeff Bridges was actually pretty astounding and far better than the film deserves. His physical acting – compare him in the modern day with his awkward movements and downcast eyes to his youthful days with flowing movements etc – was exceptional. Also I really liked the flashback stuff.

But the real problem came with the ‘modern’ story they built around it and took up way too much of the film. Firstly we’re stuck with a main character that’s incredibly bland but we’re meant to be involved in his own attempts to prove himself after breaking up with a girl….ZZZZzzzzz. It meandered all over the place and the middle of the film really dragged because the plot didnt’ seem to have anywhere to go. McGregor’s accent was very forced and annoying and he was stuck with some of the worst dialogue, a pretty rubbish narration and an incredible bland character we’re meant to care about?

Oh and the ending was quite rubbish as well. The last few lines being particularly cringe worthy as Ewan runs through the wall. Gah i’m cringing just thinking about it.

Also, if memory serves, isn’t there a scene in the trailer where they line up a bunch of goats and have him try to kill a particular one (and he succeeds in killing the next one over)? That’s not in the movie at all. One of the things that makes me wonder if there’s a longer cut out there somewhere that might have a little more oomph to it.

Didn’t like the film much. Didn’t dislike it, but Ewan McGregor’s terrible, terrible accent just took me out of it every time he spoke. Saw Haneke’s THE WHITE RIBBON last night, hoping you’ll review it in the future Vern!

When I saw it it was one of those square crowds where you can tell nobody goes out to the movies much because they laugh at the terrible jokes in the advertisements. And then it kind of hurts the movie for me because even though it’s not unfunny or anything people are laughing what seems to me like way too hard at the jokes and it makes me uncomfortable.

Anyway, I bring this up because during the movie they keep using the word Jedi, and I guess because Ewan Macgregor is in the movie and he played Obi Wan everybody would laugh when they said it. After this happened a couple times some guy in the theater says, “I don’t get it.” And his friend starts explaining, “Ewan Macgregor played Obi Wan, blah blah blah.”

Later in the movie there’s a reference to Angela Lansbury, and I swear to you that a woman on my row, who was at an age where it is not possible that she managed to avoid Murder She Wrote for her entire life, asked at a normal volume who Angela Lansbury was. And her husband or boyfriend proceeded to explain at length and not quietly what different shows and movies Angela Lansbury is primarily known for. None of them rang a bell for her.

The movie wasn’t bad, but that stuff stuck in my mind more. Also it was directed by the Scorpion King’s sidekick.

So there’s plenty to think about, and I admire a lot about it, including its commitment to connect with recent history and to consider the moral underpinnings of organized violence. I just found the film itself a little on the sleight side, unfortunately; not quite funny enough or quite dramatic enough to really have much staying power. I wonder if there’s another possible edit which might have added enough to pull it off? I’d definitely love to see a longer director’s cut with a little more meat in there, either comedy or drama. McGregor’s kind of unfunny, though (IMHO), which makes him an ineffective foil, so that may be a key stumbling point. Its not that he’s bad, he just plays it pretty straight, and ends up kind of absorbing a lot of Clooney’s fucking awesome crazy, rather than enhancing it. I’d love for that role to go to a better comedic actor, someone who could make the reactions funnier. When McGregor gets pissed and freaks out, he seems genuinely mad, which is kind of a buzzkill and not all that funny either. Heslov is new at directing so I think he’ll get better at drawing the RIGHT performance out of actors in the future (not just a good one).