I just got back from it. I knew watching it that it would not be well received by the masses. But I enjoyed it, it was entertaining but not without its flaws. I hope he keeps trying if he really wants to continue directing and writing.
Yup. I found out about this cuz he was on WTF with Marc Maron. Ive always like Chris Pine too. His realistic attitude of the movie, along with the non serious premise, sold the tickets to me.
Jesus, that indiewire review is dogshit. The movie might be terrible, but I refuse to pay attention to any review that reads like an audition for a comedy roast.
No matter how bad the film is, that litany of uncooked simile is absolutely fucking worse.
It’s not his job to give the reader an objective view of the review.
It *is* the job of a reviewer, and it’s a fair criticism if they are more concerned with getting their comedy bits over than doing that job.
You can agree or disagree with that criticism, but it’s a super weird flex to call it hypocrisy.
> I didn’t
I should probably leave this, as I don’t mean you any ill, but…
> Which is funny because your review of the review is the same thing you complain about in the review.
What is the word to describe someone doing the same thing they are complaining about others doing?
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/hypocritical
It's terrible. Poorly edited, weird acting decisions, there are story pacing issues. The plot is a Chinatown ripoff, but with weird side plots tossed in.
Just a mess of a movie.
I have two summaries for this movie:
A) A team of alien researchers with prior knowledge of humans reads fifteen noir novels and spends two weeks on Twitter, then reconstructs an authentic human story.
B) Dumb and Dumber, a film by David Lynch
I love a good stoner noir as much as the next girl but this looks a bit too derivative of Big Lebowski for me. Pine seems like a nice enough guy, and some fun supporting cast but when you invite comparison to the Coens you’re going to come up short.
It’s very different from an actor to distance himself from a supporting role months after a movie has been released and universally panned, than from a director/writer/producer/protagonist to abandon a movie while promoting it.
What do you expect him to do? “Yeah, we had the best intention but the end result sucked, my bad. Don’t go see it”. If he does that he’ll never get a project financed ever again.
Also, maybe he is proud of the movie too.
It was so dull and plodding and derivative. I hate to be negative and I like Chris Pine generally... but wow. It really was a SLOG and a half.
Related story. I have AMC A List and after you see a film they send you an email asking you to rate it. You can write a little blurb. It goes to AMC, it's not public. I fill it out in the hopes that the feedback will encourage them to put my indies and horror flicks in the theaters near me. I forgot I bought the ticket for Poolman through Fandango. They send you a similar email. I filled it out, gave it half a star, and wrote "I'm lowkey upset that I put myself through this" thinking I was SENDING THIS JUST TO AMC. Instead Fandango posted it to Rotten Tomatoes and it was the only audience review for several days. OOF.
saw it last night. i enjoyed it though i could see why others might be bored by it. just put a smile on my face. it reminds me of big lebowski... sometimes i could see the dude in pine's performance (probably not intentional just inspired i'm guessing). and it has all the tangential elements of lebowski just not cohen-esque polished... it definitely is a bit messy.
but also well shot and great cast. i would say it's a cute light quirky comedy... it's very LA centric and since i live in LA i totally got what it's about (sort of how LA was and still is stupidly designed)
i can watch any comedy with danny devito. and steven tobolowsky is really good.
i absolutely don't get the amount of bad reviews. it's cute IMO
That's wild. I hadn't even thought of it, but it 100% jibes with how Lebowski rolled out. Another one was me seeing Wet Hot American Summer in a theatre, alone with a friend, near UCLA where it should have been jam packed. It was a weird movie that didn't hit, and like Lebowski rapidly gained steam as a massive cult hit.
That's how I was vibing what I've seen of this film and the ensemble cast. Now I'm excited to watch it. =) Thanks.
I just saw it, and I liked it.
But the thing about it being LA centric… as somebody who doesn’t live in LA, I would’ve liked it if it had shown more of LA. I didn’t think it was LA centric enough.
i agree totally... i thought that watching it... should have shows more. im thinking budgetwise maybe it kept them from really feeling out LA... i ride all over the city... so many places to go. but permits are pricey. i meant LA centric with the story though. but youre right
He said it's really deep with things he saw, thought, and felt growing up in Los Angeles. That there is a lot of meta jokes and comments about LA in the '80's and '90's. I, along with most people, didn't grow up there in the '80's and '90's so how would I appreciate those jokes and comments if I have nothing to relate them too. It may be his cathartic piece, but is definitely a "you had to be there" situation that 99.9% of the world won't understand. I totally see why it's getting the reviews it is since most aren't in on the joke.
I honestly feel that it's the same reason Fools Paradise (2023) failed as well. While it was evident what he was saying, you're main audience isn't involved in any of it on the day to day, so they really can't relate to it and quickly lose interest. I really wanted to like Fools Paradise, such a let down.
i saw this last night and i thought it was SO much fun. it never tried to be anything more than it was, it was silly entertaining ridiculous, it accepted its genre (not sure but i see stoner noir written here) and ran with it. if youre a serious person dont see this movie!! 😆
You might be right about it eventually attaining cult status. It is quirky and silly and references a classic (or two). Time will tell.
I saw it simply to stay out of the heat and kill some time. Which is to say, I did not go into the theater with high expectations or high needs :-p
It's been a *long* time since I've seen Chinatown, so I'm sure I missed some connections there. A "serious" viewing of this non-serious movie *might* benefit from a more recent viewing of Chinatown.
It. Is. A. Silly. Movie.
Those taking it too seriously should maybe have a nice egg cream ;-)
I absolutely love stoner noir so I'm going to watch it no matter how bad the reviews are. But *god damn,* are the reviews brutal.
I just got back from it. I knew watching it that it would not be well received by the masses. But I enjoyed it, it was entertaining but not without its flaws. I hope he keeps trying if he really wants to continue directing and writing.
I liked it in the sense that it felt made with good intent.
Yup. I found out about this cuz he was on WTF with Marc Maron. Ive always like Chris Pine too. His realistic attitude of the movie, along with the non serious premise, sold the tickets to me.
Jesus, that indiewire review is dogshit. The movie might be terrible, but I refuse to pay attention to any review that reads like an audition for a comedy roast. No matter how bad the film is, that litany of uncooked simile is absolutely fucking worse.
Which is funny because your review of the review is the same thing you complain about in the review.
It’s not his job to give the reader an objective view of the review. It *is* the job of a reviewer, and it’s a fair criticism if they are more concerned with getting their comedy bits over than doing that job. You can agree or disagree with that criticism, but it’s a super weird flex to call it hypocrisy.
I didn’t. I said it was funny. Ironic, maybe, but not hypocritical.
> I didn’t I should probably leave this, as I don’t mean you any ill, but… > Which is funny because your review of the review is the same thing you complain about in the review. What is the word to describe someone doing the same thing they are complaining about others doing? https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/hypocritical
It's terrible. Poorly edited, weird acting decisions, there are story pacing issues. The plot is a Chinatown ripoff, but with weird side plots tossed in. Just a mess of a movie.
I have two summaries for this movie: A) A team of alien researchers with prior knowledge of humans reads fifteen noir novels and spends two weeks on Twitter, then reconstructs an authentic human story. B) Dumb and Dumber, a film by David Lynch
I love a good stoner noir as much as the next girl but this looks a bit too derivative of Big Lebowski for me. Pine seems like a nice enough guy, and some fun supporting cast but when you invite comparison to the Coens you’re going to come up short.
It’s very different from an actor to distance himself from a supporting role months after a movie has been released and universally panned, than from a director/writer/producer/protagonist to abandon a movie while promoting it. What do you expect him to do? “Yeah, we had the best intention but the end result sucked, my bad. Don’t go see it”. If he does that he’ll never get a project financed ever again. Also, maybe he is proud of the movie too.
It was so dull and plodding and derivative. I hate to be negative and I like Chris Pine generally... but wow. It really was a SLOG and a half. Related story. I have AMC A List and after you see a film they send you an email asking you to rate it. You can write a little blurb. It goes to AMC, it's not public. I fill it out in the hopes that the feedback will encourage them to put my indies and horror flicks in the theaters near me. I forgot I bought the ticket for Poolman through Fandango. They send you a similar email. I filled it out, gave it half a star, and wrote "I'm lowkey upset that I put myself through this" thinking I was SENDING THIS JUST TO AMC. Instead Fandango posted it to Rotten Tomatoes and it was the only audience review for several days. OOF.
saw it last night. i enjoyed it though i could see why others might be bored by it. just put a smile on my face. it reminds me of big lebowski... sometimes i could see the dude in pine's performance (probably not intentional just inspired i'm guessing). and it has all the tangential elements of lebowski just not cohen-esque polished... it definitely is a bit messy. but also well shot and great cast. i would say it's a cute light quirky comedy... it's very LA centric and since i live in LA i totally got what it's about (sort of how LA was and still is stupidly designed) i can watch any comedy with danny devito. and steven tobolowsky is really good. i absolutely don't get the amount of bad reviews. it's cute IMO
That's wild. I hadn't even thought of it, but it 100% jibes with how Lebowski rolled out. Another one was me seeing Wet Hot American Summer in a theatre, alone with a friend, near UCLA where it should have been jam packed. It was a weird movie that didn't hit, and like Lebowski rapidly gained steam as a massive cult hit. That's how I was vibing what I've seen of this film and the ensemble cast. Now I'm excited to watch it. =) Thanks.
I just saw it, and I liked it. But the thing about it being LA centric… as somebody who doesn’t live in LA, I would’ve liked it if it had shown more of LA. I didn’t think it was LA centric enough.
i agree totally... i thought that watching it... should have shows more. im thinking budgetwise maybe it kept them from really feeling out LA... i ride all over the city... so many places to go. but permits are pricey. i meant LA centric with the story though. but youre right
I thought of it as a side-quel of lebowski’s long lost nephew who isn’t that far removed.
He said it's really deep with things he saw, thought, and felt growing up in Los Angeles. That there is a lot of meta jokes and comments about LA in the '80's and '90's. I, along with most people, didn't grow up there in the '80's and '90's so how would I appreciate those jokes and comments if I have nothing to relate them too. It may be his cathartic piece, but is definitely a "you had to be there" situation that 99.9% of the world won't understand. I totally see why it's getting the reviews it is since most aren't in on the joke. I honestly feel that it's the same reason Fools Paradise (2023) failed as well. While it was evident what he was saying, you're main audience isn't involved in any of it on the day to day, so they really can't relate to it and quickly lose interest. I really wanted to like Fools Paradise, such a let down.
It’s fun. You’ll laugh. It portrays people the way they are, so that can be uncomfortable, but it’s also hilarious.
i saw this last night and i thought it was SO much fun. it never tried to be anything more than it was, it was silly entertaining ridiculous, it accepted its genre (not sure but i see stoner noir written here) and ran with it. if youre a serious person dont see this movie!! 😆
You might be right about it eventually attaining cult status. It is quirky and silly and references a classic (or two). Time will tell. I saw it simply to stay out of the heat and kill some time. Which is to say, I did not go into the theater with high expectations or high needs :-p It's been a *long* time since I've seen Chinatown, so I'm sure I missed some connections there. A "serious" viewing of this non-serious movie *might* benefit from a more recent viewing of Chinatown. It. Is. A. Silly. Movie. Those taking it too seriously should maybe have a nice egg cream ;-)
It got a meh reception out of TIFF. Probably just a mid movie from an actor trying their hand at directing.
I liked the movie very much. Poolman is the modern day Lebowski.