An average movie

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was directed by Noah Baumbach, I was quite eager to check it out. In fact, since I really loved ‘Marriage Story’ (It is still my favorite movie released in 2019, no less than that), I’m surprised it took me so long to watch Baumbach’s following directorial effort. I guess the main reason was because it didn’t get much love when it was released and, now, I understand why.  I mean, there was definitely some good stuff though. For starters, the cast was really neat (Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, Don Cheadle, Jodie Turner-Smith, André 3000) and they all gave some solid performances. I especially enjoyed this sweet couple with Driver and Gerwig and their nuclear family which seemed to get along fairly well. I mean, they were quirky and dysfunctional but not in a toxic way which was quite refreshing. Unfortunately, I did struggle to care about, well, pretty much everything else in this movie. First, there was this ‘Airborne Toxic Event’ which was never really interesting or entertaining, in my opinion. Basically, it did turn the movie into some kind of post-apocalyptic thriller for a while but, after 9 days (of which you didn’t see much), they actually got back home and returned to their lives as if nothing really happened. Even more underwhelming was the whole sub-plot about Greta Gerwig’s character swallowing some mysterious drug. I mean, I didn’t care much about this ‘Airborne Toxic Event’ but, at least, everything did seem to make more or less sense. However, they really lost me with this ‘Dylar’ thing though. Indeed, why on Earth would you have sex with some dude just to get access to some sketchy experimental drug when you have absolutely no idea if this drug will help you at all? Why not get some crack or some heroin then? At least, you would be sure to feel better for a while. Sure, you could argue that, this way, it made Jack and Babette messier and, therefore, more relatable but I just didn’t care much about the story they were involved in. I also liked the idea of this couple struggling with Death in general, it was definitely intriguing but the way they tackled this theme didn’t really work for me, I’m afraid. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it is worth a look though, especially if you are interested in Noah Baumbach’s work. 

6/10