2024 brought us a unique and groundbreaking lineup of audiovisual merit: Emilia Perez, Megalopolis, Joker: Folie à Deux, Madam Web. Yet somehow this year wouldn't have been complete without the Greek film Murphy's Law, about a lonely, nagging Karen who, after being hit by a car and falling into a brief coma, she imagines what a wonderful life she would have led if she was living the life of other people.
I bet I've seen this story at least a dozen times before, with a dozen more originality and a dozen less screentime. The film clocks over two hours, yet feels like 4 because there is no reason for it to exist other than to fool people into watching it to make money. Luckily, the film failed to fool anyone and was a massive box-office bomb in Greece, the only country it will ever see the light of day, I hope.
The film takes itself very seriously from the start. It thinks it's hilarious beyond belief. The actors deliver their dialogue like it's the wittiest, smartest, funniest thing ever made. The result is a cringe inducing nightmare with paper thin characters. The performances are less believable than a school play rehearsal. Nothing about them rings truthful and honest. And how could they when the dialogue feels like it was written by a supermarket. The dialogue was so embarrassing that I felt retarded while watching the film. Katia Goulioni, the film's lead, gives one of the most obnoxious, fake and pretentious performances I've ever had the privilege of experiencing. That's because she forces what she herself probably conceives as humour or charisma onto the poor audience. The film tries so hard to be witty and funny that it insults the audience's intellect. And it does so for more than two hours, I remind you.
Nothing about this film is remotely audiovisually or emotionally believable. It looks fake, feels fake and even sounds fake - yes, there is an endlessly pointless musical sequence in it where the sound is mixed so poorly you can hear the studio. The film also employs some classical pieces that come out of nowhere and I'm pretty sure I've heard them in at least 5 other films before. No originality there either.
Watching this film I kept thinking what was the point of it. Was it to make people laugh? To inspire them? To entertain them? To make them feel sick of cinema?
As a Greek filmmaker myself, I am ashamed my country produces such films and I would like to apologize on behalf of it. The director, writer and producers of this film clearly do not respect their audiences. If they did, they would have buried this abortion and themselves with it.
