An average movie

Since this movie had been a huge critical flop when it was released, I had some low expectations but, since there was a decent cast involved and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out anyway. Well, like many actors before him, Chris Pine thought it would be a good idea if he gave it a try behind the camera but, unfortunately, the end-result was just terrible. Basically, it seems that Pine had watched too many times ‘The Big Lebowski’ and ‘Chinatown’ and he tried to emulate somehow both movies at the same time but he probably should have tried to do something completely different after all. Eventually, I did give the damned thing a few extra points for its sheer ambition but I’m afraid it never worked whatsoever. The first issue was with the main character. Sure, most of us will agree that Jeffrey Lebowski is really cool but such characters are actually difficult to pull off and this movie was a perfect example why. Indeed, Darren Barrenman was maybe autistic, maybe psychotic, certainly obsessive but, in spite of Chris Pine’s charisma, he was always more pathetic and annoying than really interesting or entertaining. The supporting characters were at least less cringe-inducing but they were also all completely forgettable (except maybe DeWanda Wise but it was more because she looked so gorgeous and not because her character was so amazing). Concerning the story also written by Pine himself, it was just a boring mess. Did it really make sense? I’m not sure but I’m pretty sure I didn’t care one way or another. At least, it was a rather short movie so that was something positive. Anyway, to conclude, Chris Pine should definitely focus on acting in the future and you should probably avoid this movie. 

5/10