Starring Matt Damon and a Bunch of People Known for Comedy Playing Dramatic Characters!
Directed by Steven Soderbergh!
Directed by Steven Soderbergh!
Let me start with something good! The score by Marvin Hamlisch is one of my favorites of the year! Clever, retro, and highly enjoyable! I purchased it soon after I watched the movie!
Now, when the score's the best part of your movie, there's a problem!
Inherently, this movie's not bad! In fact, in addition to the score, there's quite a bit that I liked here, but it just all doesn't come together and amount to anything I could care about!
Based on a true story, Matt Damon is Mark Whitacre, a biochemist working for Archer Daniels Midland, a company responsible for putting corn in stuff! He decides to blow the whistle on the company's price fixing tactics! In the end, however, his plan begins to backfire for reasons I won't reveal here!
Damon is pretty decent! He certainly kept my interest throughout the movie and provided some clever voice-over work! He's aided acting-wise by Scott "Quantum Leap" Bakula and Joel "The Soup!" McHale as his contacts in the FBI! Both of these guys were good, as was Melanie Lynskey (who was so touching in Away We Go) as Whitacre's doting wife who pushes her husband to spill the beans on his company's wrongdoings, unaware of the fact that her husband may not be the angel he portrays himself as!
I also must say that I appreciated Soderbergh's directing style here! It felt very low key, low budget, and old school! I liked the odd lighting, the set design, and the costuming! It was visually very appealing!
So why the heck was I bored out of my mind during the first ninety minutes of this movie?! Admittedly, the final thirty minutes featuring Whitacre's unraveling caught my interest, but it felt like this movie went on for an eternity prior to that! Despite really appreciating a lot about this movie, it didn't click with me in the slightest! I guess that falls onto the writers for not doing enough to hook me with the story! It's unfortunate because there's a lot to like about this movie, but having a good story is pretty damn important and the story here is weak!
Note: It would be remiss of me not to mention the exclamation point at the end of the movie title! As you see in my post above, I'm a fan of the fact that there's an exclamation point there!
Now, when the score's the best part of your movie, there's a problem!
Inherently, this movie's not bad! In fact, in addition to the score, there's quite a bit that I liked here, but it just all doesn't come together and amount to anything I could care about!
Based on a true story, Matt Damon is Mark Whitacre, a biochemist working for Archer Daniels Midland, a company responsible for putting corn in stuff! He decides to blow the whistle on the company's price fixing tactics! In the end, however, his plan begins to backfire for reasons I won't reveal here!
Damon is pretty decent! He certainly kept my interest throughout the movie and provided some clever voice-over work! He's aided acting-wise by Scott "Quantum Leap" Bakula and Joel "The Soup!" McHale as his contacts in the FBI! Both of these guys were good, as was Melanie Lynskey (who was so touching in Away We Go) as Whitacre's doting wife who pushes her husband to spill the beans on his company's wrongdoings, unaware of the fact that her husband may not be the angel he portrays himself as!
I also must say that I appreciated Soderbergh's directing style here! It felt very low key, low budget, and old school! I liked the odd lighting, the set design, and the costuming! It was visually very appealing!
So why the heck was I bored out of my mind during the first ninety minutes of this movie?! Admittedly, the final thirty minutes featuring Whitacre's unraveling caught my interest, but it felt like this movie went on for an eternity prior to that! Despite really appreciating a lot about this movie, it didn't click with me in the slightest! I guess that falls onto the writers for not doing enough to hook me with the story! It's unfortunate because there's a lot to like about this movie, but having a good story is pretty damn important and the story here is weak!
Note: It would be remiss of me not to mention the exclamation point at the end of the movie title! As you see in my post above, I'm a fan of the fact that there's an exclamation point there!
The RyMickey Rating: D+ !
How was... How was Buster Bluth?
ReplyDeleteHe was fine...wasn't given much to do and didn't show up until 2/3 of the way through the movie.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure he was outstanding, Justin.
ReplyDelete