I was crying from laughing so much. And also crying from the tragedy too. Damn that was an intense movie. I just saw it the one time in the theater on opening day, alone. The fact that it was so intense kept me from wanting to see it a second time, but I still remember it fondly.
That’s how I felt about the movie Brazil. I came out saying “that is the best movie I never want to see again!”
My parents didn’t take us to many movies, but my mom took me and my best friend to Life is Beautiful in the first week or so. He didn’t like it so I was embarrassed, but now I’m so glad I saw it when I did and will be introducing it to my kids around the same age. Also, my friend came around on it later.
Haven’t seen the movie yet, but I guess comedy is hard to do, and if it misses the mark it may make you cringe instead of laugh. I have read similar criticisms concerning Green Book (not a comedy) and Driving Miss Daisy (also not a comedy) in the 90s.
The Producers and Dr. Strangelove are definitely funny, however. Maybe because neither try to be “uplifting”? I mean, there’s a fine line between “uplifting” and “absolving”.
I laughed and cried. A deeply awesome movie.
“What are you burning!?”
“She can’t hear you…”
“WHAT ARE YOU BURNING!?!?!?”
I did like it, but as others have said, the dark turn is very dark and surprisingly abrupt, and the humor can understandably be missed. While it worked for me due to the excellent performances and the Calvin & Hobbs vibe I enjoyed immensely, I would not recommend it to anyone because I believe whether you will like it or be offended by it is too difficult to predict even for individuals whose tastes you feel you know well.
Honestly I was most impressed with Sam Rockwell’s role. It would have been easy to play it one note, but you see hints and snatches of something more.
This person was a true believer and gets caught in the theatricality, but is aware of how wrong it is.
Two scenes stood out, ‘your mother was a good person, an actual good person’ and the end where you can practically hear his internal monologue in facial expressions.
‘Why didn’t you hide Jojo, you know whats happening. Dang it, I hope one day you understand’