michaeljcummings

It's watchable and pleasant but fairly low energy and missing that certain something that gives you goosebumps-except during the engineering scenes when the movie comes alive and picks up.

However, it deserves kudos for maintaining suspense in a story that most people know and is mostly series of two person acting scenes with a low budget patina, a montage of bad wigs (Affleck, Davis) and a prosthetic gut (Damon). The music is well selected-not the usual cliche soundtrack-and I assume music ate up a huge percentage of the bloated $90 Million budget-but it's overpacked and a poor substitute for dialogue: next time they can simply make an opera. This is what is considered an instant classic in the post Covid-19 era.

Imagine the movie "The Big Short" but about Purdue Pharma and the opioid epidemic instead of the 2008 housing crisis. Well, Dopesick isn't that. It's overlong and devolves into the kind of production where music cues the audience on how it's supposed to react. There are many implausible relationships and unconvincing characters, both major and minor. Multiple characters repeat the same lines in the same scenes...to make sure we get the point.

The time jumping-which many viewers are complaining about-actually makes Dopesick somewhat watchable. If the story was told in chronological order, it wouldn't hold water. Many of the smaller roles are cast with amateurish actors who would be more at home in network police procedurals. Ironically, the long running time should mean a rich tapestry and a deep dive into characters and situations...instead, time is squandered and Dopesick is marred by simplistic dialogue where characters are constantly providing exposition as to what they are about to do / what they are doing / and what they just did.

Insipid lead with a chronic case of up-speak and hints of vocal fry makes poor decisions then squeaks "oh my gosh!" Excruciatingly dull. Extremely unconvincing portrayal of Amish. Pass.