Wednesday, September 24, 2025

'A Big Bold Beautiful Journey' A Review

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is a romantic fantasy about two listless mentally ill adults looking for love. A magical car rental service shunts these two sociopaths together for the titular adventure which is basically a linear walk down memory lane where they reenact/relive past individual moments together which serves as how they get to know each other. Sexy!

Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell are some of our most natural and magnetic movie stars so it is a feat here, and a fault of the direction/script rather than their talent, that they are so stilted, flat, and unengaging. They have no chemistry. The robotic, unnatural, and exposition heavy dialogue is an absolute albatross for them both and seems to take a baffling tell don't show approach. There is no subtext, no subtlety, all emotion and intent is bludgeoning clear in the punishing dialogue.

The production is whimsical and well done, not a surprise from director Kogonada, but this is the first feature which he did not write and that gulf is apparent as regardless of the effectiveness of the production design the result is impotent. Seth Reiss's script is dated, reductive, and so twee the cringe factor makes it virtually unwatchable, it is clearly an Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind knock-off with none of the innovation, authenticity, or potency of that film.

Pretentious, ill-conceived, and pedantic.

Currently in theaters.

Don't See It.

No comments:

Post a Comment