Watched at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
No doubt, director Hailey Gates is very ambitious of crafting a satirical approach on war and filmmaking about war. Gates direction, the intentional cringe humor and strong performances from the cast proves that Gates is talented. Many moments of how the performances are displayed, the camerawork, and the atmosphere has some clever dynamics and substance to offer. Especially Alia Shawkat who is hilarious and has such a great likable and charming performance.
Unfortunately, what prevents it from being great is it's writing. There are clever concepts and interesting aspects about reality and fiction, the military and combat portrayed. But Gates doesn't really fully take advantage of the concepts and themes as she would have liked, which offers a pacing issue and characters that don't feel fully developed, a left more thin and dried up.
I do appreciate Gates being able to create this because this is a great concept. As a whole, the project is still entertaining as I was still invested throughout, but if the writing and development was improved, it would be a better experience.
