filmguyci-22804

I saw this film at a film festival with an audience anxious to laugh and have a good time. A comedy with Dustin Milligan from Schitts Creek and Simon Rex from Red Rocket? I was optimistic this would be a winner.

It's clear that the writer used Harold and Kumar Goes to White Castle as his inspiration. Two doofus leads, a "C" level celebrity playing an alternate version of themselves, and Taco Gary's as the stand in for White Castle. But where that movie made me laugh out loud, this just made me cringe. The writing so poor, and the directing so amateurish that almost nothing worked. It wasn't funny stupid. Just stupid. Almost every joke fell flat. By the halfway point numerous audience members abandoned the mission.

Rex mercilessly chews the scenery here. It was hard to believe this was the same actor who was so good in Sean Baker's Red Rocket. Milligan fares slightly better, but the script and direction continuously let him down. Hot Frosty is an Oscar winner compared to this.

I doubt this film will go any further than a few festival showings. If you do have the opportunity to see it, I recommended you resist the urge and go to White Castle instead.

This film seemed to have come out of nowhere. I'm pretty up to date on all the latest releases but I had never heard of or seen a preview for a musical film about Romeo and Juliet. I was curious but also had pretty low expectations.

My friend and I saw the film on opening night with two others in the theater including the elderly gentleman who works there. The first 20 minutes were a bit rough, but then I got into it and am happy to report that this is a very good film.

I was impressed by the lavish production and period details. I loved how the film told the story of Romeo and Juliet using proper language but language that could be understood by all. The music had a contemporary pop feel and was both listenable and effective within the context of telling the story.

There are some well known actors who added to the intrigue for me, including Rebel Wilson and Rupert Everett. I enjoyed their performances and felt the acting was strong overall. I did feel Romeo was a bit bland. Perhaps that's why it's called Juliet and Romeo. But the two still had strong chemistry and the actress playing Juliet was terrific.

I wondered who the audience might be for this. It had a bit of a Moulin Rouge vibe so maybe there's a younger audience who might eventually discover it? I recommend this film to anyone who likes musicals and can appreciate the spectacle and an original take on a classic.

This film is a dramatization of a game show scandal from the 70s.

A con artist, played by Paul Walter Hauser, appears on the game show Press Your Luck and shocks the audience and producers with his winning streak. This ultimately leads to backstage turmoil and cheating revelations.

We've seen this before in the gold standard "Quiz Show" and more recently "Perfect Bid." This failed to keep me as interested as those two compelling films did.

I think the problem lies in Hauser's portrayal. The character's affect is so odd and off putting that it's a wonder he was chosen for the show to begin with let alone have an entire audience rooting for him. To be fair, I don't know what the real man was like, but I expected a professional con man to be more smooth. The relationship with his daughter and ex wife was also underdeveloped and gave little insight into the man behind the madness.

It's mildly entertaining at best. I saw it at my local theater at the one showing they had but this is an absolute wait for streaming kind of film.