tpkrause1

Imagine having access to millions of dollars, the villas and oceans of Naples, and your pick of gorgeous, complicated men to play Tom Ripley and Dickie Greenleaf. Now, imagine saying to yourself, "Nah!"

Instead of making interesting choices that complement the wealth of source material from the book, you decide to squander it all with a lack of common sense, taste, and cultural appreciation. You shoot in black and white! You cast actors in their 40s with the emotional range of rocks to play youthful sex Gods! You cast an oddly young man to play Freddie Miles to make your leads look even older and less interesting!

Every single choice - from Herbert Greenleaf's bizarrely working-class wardrobe to the badly dubbed opera singer's lipped-synced performance to the lack of color when shooting Picassos and Caravaggios or ocean views to the nearly as dull as Gwyneth Paltrow - is more dull and boring than the next.

Typical US self-obsessed nonsense. Terrible performances and worse direction. Truly awful writing.

I read a review claiming the book to be pretentious but, no, not this movie, essentially subreddit garbage "philosophy" put to film. The characters were unlikable and shallow and written to display "depth" through forced complexity that really just made them all inconsistent. The performances ranged from former A-listers phoning in impressions of themselves to newcomers pushing too hard. The dialogue was self-consciously "cool" and so unnatural it was distracting.

Ever go to a nice restaurant only to have it spoiled by a trendy hipster who's opinion that macaroni and cheese should use Guyere over Sharp Cheddar feels inauthentic and scripted off an Internet forum? It's like that.