Downtown Owl

In quirky but enjoyable 1983-based small-town dramedy "Downtown Owl" Lily Rabe (terrific) escapes her troubled marriage by taking a short-term teaching assignment (under Hamish Linklater) in the titular tiny Dakota town where she goes thru something of a drink fuelled breakdown while interacting with local characters like Ed Harris (still a class act), love interest (or not?) Henry Golding, and colleagues Vanessa Hudgens & Finn Wittrock. Linklater (on his movie writing debut) adapted the screenplay from Chuck Klosterman's novel, and also co-directed with actual gf (and fellow first-time director) Rabe - props to both of them for such an original & likeable film.

Downtown Owl is a film that struggles to leave an impression. Despite its intriguing premise, the execution feels lackluster, with a disjointed narrative and uneven pacing that make it difficult to fully invest in the story or its characters. The film fails to find a consistent tone, leaving it feeling scattered and incomplete.

However, amidst the chaos, Lily Rabe manages to shine. Her performance is heartfelt and genuine, a testament to her incredible talent. Lily is one of the most underrated actresses of all time, and even in a film like this, she proves her ability to bring depth and nuance to any role. Her presence is a rare bright spot in an otherwise disappointing movie.

Unfortunately, the film's overall shortcomings overshadow its few positive elements. The story lacks direction, and the characters, aside from Lily's, are underdeveloped. It's frustrating to see such a talented actress attached to a project that doesn't match her capabilities.

In my opinion, this film exhibited a unique and well-conceived narrative. It authentically captured the mindset and societal norms of a bygone era. Notably, the absence of cell phones and the prevalence of pay phones in bars, as well as the prominence of social interactions in physical spaces rather than online, were accurately portrayed. The film effectively highlighted the distinct values and priorities of that time, such as the significance of outdoor activities and face-to-face encounters, in contrast to the contemporary reliance on technology and digital communication. These are all things that I feel like we take for granted now especially children in millennials.

Why Ed Harris its in this thing? He didn't deserve this after his extraordinary carrer, i feel so sad for him to be honest. The directorial debut of the American horror storyline girl is a very mediocre one and kinda sad, the movie is just a big mess and that's disappointing because she is a good actress and the cast it's very big and experimented, but the script and history its a mess i didn't understand anything and i am a pretty smart guy to be honest so that's weird, overall this is a mess and please dint lose your time trying to understand this thing please ok, just awful movie overall ok bay.

I was expecting a lot more from this one. And frankly, I was pretty disappointed. I should have taken the relatively low grade IMDb viewers gave it. The movie had so much potential.

Here are the main problems as I see it. The film really tried too hard to be offbeat. It ended up looking like it was directed by someone with ADD. It needed a lot more focus instead of trying to tell several, seemingly unrelated stories at the same time.

The acting from Lily Rabe while excellent, wasn't enough to save the movie. She deserved better material. And Ed Harris? Wow! What an utter waste of his talent here.

Maybe the director will have better luck on his next outing.

--MovieJunkieMark.