seavu

There are some great actors in this film, who really should have received more screen time. Gary Oldman will be virtually unrecognizable to those who only know him from Slow Horses. Ditto Jennifer Jason Leigh, seen here in a bleached-to-near-white blonde wig and whose screen time and lines are very short and very few. Still, Amy Adams absolutely carries this movie as an intelligent professional woman, a child psychologist, whose precarious, overly medicated mental state makes her claims against her respectable neighbor, the banker (Gary Oldman), seem doubtful. Julianne Moore, also with hair dyed blonde, makes the most of her cameo, and delivers a stellar performance as usual. And Wyatt Russell equally fulfills his role as Adams' basement tenant whose trustworthiness becomes increasingly dubious. Not all films are made to win SAG awards, some are made just to entertain us and keep us guessing, as this solid psychological thriller does. Normally, I would rate this movie 7 stars, but the current 5.7 rating seems quite skewed to me, probably by those who have read the book and found the movie didn't live up to the power of their own imaginations. They rarely do. But for those of us seeing this story for the first time, it's a winner.

I am writing this review to encourage anyone of Seinfeld's generation (Boomer) to look past the 5.5 rating Unfrosted currently has here on IMDB and treat yourself to a fast-moving caper, that is both witty and broadly funny in the spirit of Blake Edwards Pink Panther movies. Actually, this isn't so much a movie as a cartoon generously peopled by well-known comedians and comic actors of all stripes and generations who fly by in rapid fire skit-like cameos throughout the film. You can miss a lot while sitting there trying to figure out who they are and where you've seen them before, so, do yourself a favor and look at the entire list of cast members *before* you begin the film. Some, of course, are readily recognizable, including the leads, Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Gaffigan, Amy Schumer, and Melissa McCarthy. Also easily recognizable are Hugh Grant, Jon Hamm, Fred Armisen, Peter Dinklage, and Christian Slater, to name only a few. If you too are a baby boomer, the look and feel of this movie is real trip down memory lane, but the script also contains short, funny bits related to contemporary issues as well. If you are not a Boomer . . . Well, as one reviewer here said, your hair may be parted by the number of jokes that fly over your head! I would watch anyway, because in the end, this is a truly funny and visually engaging madcap flashback to 60s that should appeal to the lover of pop culture of any age, even those whose hair is still Unfrosted. ;-)

I really wanted to like this series, but I couldn't get past Episode 2. It smacks of Lost or Manifest in that the big mystery is painfully drawn out from moment to moment, and scene to scene, and no doubt, episode to episode. Instead of a mysteriously appearing polar bear there's a mysterious bug. The varied cast brings varied acting skills to the storyline, some of them just plain bad, although given the material they are working with, that may be understandable. Way too many long, dark glances exchanged among these characters - so much melodrama, one wonders if this is supposed to be camp. Sorry, but none it worked for me. The kitschy/spooky soundtrack, bookended by the jarringly anachronistic hits from the 70s at the beginning and ending of each episode, was just the bad icing on the cake. In sum, a hard pass from me. Sorry.