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?

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....

Overall, if you're just a normal person going about your life, you probably won't enjoy this movie. It's very dark, dreary, and depressing. Also, it does seem like the filmmakers took this movie seriously, which is unfortunate, because if they went straight for a black comedy, this would be a 10 star review, without question. And I know aspiring filmmakers are desperate for a 10 star review from an internet random like me.

The fun parts of this movie are that the main character is such an unlikable pathetic loser, that's it's comical to see him just get constantly humiliated and wrecked in the worst ways possible. I give the creators credit for levels at which Ronnie gets owned in this movie. It is very amusing.

The problem is, once you get past the amusement of seeing a ridiculous caricature of an "alt right" (whatever that is) troll getting humiliated (it is very funny at times), it's a pretty empty movie. Ronnie is such an over the top caricature that you can't really take him seriously. I don't doubt that there's people like him out there, but it does honestly seem like a Liberal Wet Dream of how they envision the typical Republican Voter.

That's why this movie has mostly 10 or 1 point reviews of people either saying it's hateful propaganda against White Men, or it's amazing commentary on how much Right Wingers suck!

Overall, it's kind of a hopeless movie. It's basically saying that there's these guys out there who are totally incompetent, angry, hateful, alone, and ready to snap. And that there's not much we can do about it. Which could be funny in a dark comedy, but is kind of depressing in this movie.

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.

I had mixed feelings about this film--it's well-made and has some important things on its mind, but also just tries to cram too many talking-points in, to the end result that the storytelling is only semi-plausible. It would have been better as a shorter film without quite SO many curveballs thrown the protagonist's way. He doesn't need to embody every characteristic that someone like him MIGHT have, or every obstacle he might experience.

But I was driven to review mostly by the ridiculous number of obvious trolls here voting the lowest they can while obviously not having seen the film. Are alt-right types so scared of unflattering fictional depictions that they need to pile on public forums like this just to frantically discourage other people from seeing those depictions? Well of course they are. How pathetic. I mean, at least you people might have done your homework and read a few reviews so you could more convincingly pretend to have actually seen "Cuck" and had some real basis for criticizing its content. But then, you folk aren't exactly renowned for being very bright. You're as obvious as Scientologists posing as indignant Average Joes to scream bloody murder at any Scientology expose. All you do is underline the film's depiction of alt-right incel types as whiny, paranoid mom's-basement dwellers who are obsessed with "masculinity" yet have the tantrum-prone emotions of 5-year-olds.

You know what actual grownups are self-confident enough NOT to do? "Review" films they haven't seen, because they're afraid others might see that film and learn it's a little too accurate a portrait.