Cuck

The premise of this movie sounded interesting to me. I'm not really a political person but I enjoy watching movies where a character slowly loses their grip on reality and descends down a rabbit hole of madness, to me this movie fell short of delivering that feeling. It's pretty clear from the beginning of the movie that Ronnie is not a stable person and the ending of the film was rather predictable. The second act of the movie was unexpected in it's subject matter and while it has some fascinating moments it is ultimately depressing and you actually begin to feel sorry for Ronnie.

One big problem I think this movie suffers from is that it is very self-serious. The comedic moments that are in the film do not seem to come from a place of finding humor in tragedy, instead they seem to come from a place of intentional humiliation. The themes inside the movie also present themselves as very matter-of-fact. Black comedy can be good, but here it feels more vindictive than it does serving as a venue for humor in a certain situation.

Given the political context I can see why this movie is so polarizing. While making movies with a divisive subject can be risky, it can payoff if by the end the viewer leaves feeling like they learned something. I'm not very familiar with the alt-right but I didn't leave this movie thinking to myself, "wow! That was really an insightful look into the mindset of a group of people I don't understand." I kind of wish this film had dropped the political narrative entirely and just focused on further character development. Ronnie has a friend in the movie that kind of acts like a mentor but besides that he is rather one-dimensional and really just serves as a plot device. Ronnie's Dad passed away years ago and was in the army, that's about all we know about him--did Ronnie's father have a significant influence on his personality? Ronnie works at a convenience store and the owner's son basically acts as a plot device and another scenario for Ronnie to get upset about. The character Candy is somewhat fleshed-out but even still, her subplot is rather predictable and lacks tension.

Overall, this movie isn't unwatchable but it also didn't leave a significant impact on me. It was a very on-the-nose movie that felt like it was also patting itself on the back constantly. Like I mentioned in the beginning, you do begin to feel sorry for Ronnie by the end of the movie, however I do wonder if that was ever truly the filmmakers intentions?

I suppose this movie can only worsen the situation of divededness within the US. But I don't really care. This movie is hilarious in its cringe. At least it's not boring. I only hope it wasn't indended to be taken dead seriously like some authors of the polarized reviews here did. Because if it was then... bruh.

Whoever said this movie was funny has a twisted sense of humor because this is one of the more depressing movies of 2019 I've seen. I enjoy dark comedies and would have preferred Cuck to be that, it is not.

I don't feel like this movie is as profound as it leads itself to believe as it was most likely written through the lens of someone who is an outsider to many of the ideologies they are trying to portray. Sometimes it comes off as petty with how bad the movie wants you to react to Ronnie's character and certain scenes feel more convenient to the narrative the film is trying to spin as opposed to plausible (a date Ronnie has in the film and a scene were Ronnie is washing a parking lot come to mind.)

That being said, this movie isn't completely terrible; the cinematography, performances, and soundtrack are all satisfactory. However, once you scratch beneath the surface this movie feels empty and it's themes are there for shock purposes. The formula of Cuck is very similar to films like Taxi Driver or Falling Down except with the obvious political twist, which they milk hard. I feel like the intention of this movie is to further divide people instead of trying to create civil discussion.

This movie is written from a point of view that tries to pass off as sympathetic but at its core this movie is a 'hate letter' to the 4\8chan and incel culture, this movie is not a character study, it claims to try to show how a sad lonely kid can get radicalized through exposure to far right rhetoric online but almost everything that happens in the movie is so outlandish that you really can't take it seriously.

Ultimately, this movie is written form a leftist perspective and it tries to color trump supporters as 'cucks', without a shred of self awareness about the whole ordeal, the movie takes itself very seriously.

But really, beyond the hamfisted politics it's not a terrible movie worthy of a 1 star review.

Sorry to say it, but this film's plot is incredibly weak, as well as too on the nose with the political commentary. The cinematography is great, as well as the lead's preformance. But Cuck feels more cartoonish in it's narrative then Joker, a movie literally derived from a comic book. I'd recommend watching this given time to burn, but it's in no way a "deep" film. If anything, I'd say that the screenwriters spent too much time trying to make the movie controversial, and not enough time trying to make this world feel real.