conrad_west

Finally got to this film and I tried to like it but ultimately the script is trying so hard to be clever with forced twists that it kind of turned me off.

I don't want to give it all away but the mystery withing the film works quite well in the beginning but then you know you are watching a movie and just being played.

Also while Will Smith and Margot Robbie are both really amazing actors they lacked chemistry on screen. Smith plays the experienced con artist and Robbie the aspiring con artist.

In the early meeting Margot Robbie's character tries to con Will Smith's character but fails. Then Smith's character goes into this entire discussion on how to never lose focus which is where the title is born from.

If have nothing better to watch you can put it on and have low expectations but if you are in the mood for a more engaging story, try something else from these two like Men In Black or Wolf Of Wall Street.

I return to this picture every couple of years or so and it never fails to satisfy. It is timeless social commentary wowen into an iconic sci fi film that has it all.

The humanity that Ethan Hawke displays in his performance is inspiring. The cinematography too is timeless. I watched this on my home projector and that is how I recommend that you too watch this film or at least on as big a screen as possible.

To discuss and illustrate genetic engineering as both a vexing social issue and as a catalyst for existentialism and crime. Ethan Hawke's character is natural but inferior because he is not engineered which in turn begs a lot of questions.

I got conned into watching 1-800-Hot-Nite by the Director himself who gets a 10/10 for being a kick ass hype man and sales man for his terrible film. I met him at a film festival and he had me sold on this 1-800 film and his abilities as a filmmaker which I would actually rank very poorly now that I have seen the work.

But he got me as I purchased this film on digital based on his hyping it and telling me how it got into some prestigious Euro festival which now I suspect may not even be true or if it did get it in it was possibly because the Director conned someone there too.

It has a 90's vibe which I usually dig but it seems like it is also in modern times I don't know if I missed something or it is just another terrible problem in this film. The cast is pretty weak but it could have been the scripting as they also are forced to say pointless lines in constantly contrived narrative which lacks a focus. I mean really this film is about nothing and is plain boring I am sorry to say.

To be fair the actor who plays the main kid is actually pretty good at times and the woman in the car seems to be a pro actress but the rest are kind of forgettable.

I just felt like I got cheated out of my time more than money honestly, and I really hope no one else gets conned into watching this film. This Director either has no shame or he truly has no idea what a good script and good film-making is.

Just all in all bad for indy film when schlock like this gets pushed on the consumer, bad for the distributor selling this schlock and bad for the festivals showing this schlock.