An average movie

Since I’m a big fan of Francis Ford Coppola’s work, I was really eager to check this movie and it took me many years to finally watch the damned thing. Well, I wish I could say it was worth the wait but, unfortunately, it turned out to be rather underwhelming. I don’t know, it seems that after ruling the 70’s by making back-to-back 4 masterpieces, Coppola didn’t think he should try so hard this time around. Actually, even though it seemed to be a rather simple movie, it eventually cost 10 times more than what was planned because, for some reasons, Coppola decided to shot the whole thing on stages and decided also to make some expensive technical experimentations. In fact, the guy lost so much money on this movie that it completely derailed his career and, as a result, all the movies he would make during the next 20 years, would be done to pay off the debts he made during the production of this movie. Anyway, it turned out to be something more jazzy and experimental than his previous movies but even though it wasn’t a complete failure, I still had a hard time to care about the damned thing. In fact, even though this movie was apparently inspired by the musicals of the 40’s and 50’s, it reminded me more of Fellini’s work with its rather chaoctic structure. However, if Fellini was able to create some masterpieces in this genre, Coppola didn’t fare so well, I’m afraid. The biggest issue I had was that it must have been the most boring couple I have ever seen. Indeed, Teri Garr looked terribly plain but, at least, she did have a little something but, on the other hand, Frederic Forrest was easily one of the least charismatic lead actors I have ever seen. Anyway, this couple was just cringe-inducing and the movie would have been much more interesting if they simply dropped them and focused instead on Raul Julia and Nastassja Kinski who seemed much more compelling. To conclude, I think I have been rather generous with my rating here but I guess it is still worth a look, especially if you are interested in Francis Ford Coppola’s work. 


6/10