davejones

I know that this is a wacky comedy and not a documentary. I get it. Events spin out of control. Things become absurd.

But following the opening dinner-party scene, I didn't believe anything that anyone did in this movie. Not for a minute. And all the actors in it are very capable and give excellent performances.

But nobody's reaction to anything in this arbitrary and unmotivated series of events is remotely like something an actual person might do. Every scene prompts the question, "Why would he/she do that?"

The screenplay is bereft of anything resembling human behavior--homo sapiens or Neanderthals.

This is a sports movie with a fresh sci-fi twist. We've seen the setup many times before: an ambitious athlete, pushed by a coach who wants the gold even more than the athlete does, leaving the athlete questioning if the sacrifices necessary to be an Olympic gold-medal winner are worth it. But the sci-fi element that gives the athlete the edge she's been looking for pushes the whole thing in fresh directions, with the story taking turns I never saw coming. I was rooting for the protagonist from the beginning, and right through the final scene. Direction, performances, cinematography, score and the script are all excellent.

There's just one problem with this movie, in my opinion: it's too long. And not just a little too long. There is no need for this film to be 2½ hours. The story could have been told in two hours, and it would have been even more suspenseful than it is.

That aside, it's well worth seeing.

This movie is a series of half-baked setups with very obvious payoffs. Within ten minutes of starting to watch it, if you haven't figured out everything that will happen, what each character will do, more or less, and how it will all play out, then. . . Congratulations. I think you're really going to enjoy watching your very first movie.

The story moves along such well-worn and predictable lines that it's more of an outline than an actual story. None of the events that take place is properly developed. We certainly have no idea of why, really, anyone does what he or she does: Brian is meek. The town spinster is smitten (and inspirational!). The bully is bad. The townsfolk just need a leader. Charles wants to see the world.

Now for the good: The robot itself is so hilarious to behold and so disarming in its robotic, deadpan utterances that I kept watching--if for no other reason than to hear what Charles would say next. Just looking at him mad me laugh out loud in places. You really have to admire the audacity of the filmmakers cobbling this thing together and saying to themselves (let alone their financiers), "Oh yeah. We can make this thing work."

Then there's also the gorgeous cinematography of the Welsh countryside and its ramshackle cottages to hold your interest. The story is nothing much, but the whole movie is a visual treat.

Just don't go in expecting to believe--or be surprised by--a single moment.