I don't need films to be laid out on a silver platter for me and I do enjoy a bit of mystery and hidden secrets in a film but I think that this one may have gone too far in how vague everything that happens in it plays out. By the time I made it to the end of this film I honestly had no idea what had just happened and was extremely confused. It wasn't until a went and read the notes of director Charlie Kaufman that I was able to put the pieces together and even then I still don't get a lot of it. After reading the notes, I have a bit of a grasp as to what they were going for in this film, but in the end I think that this is going to be far too confusing for most viewers.
For starters, this movie moves incredibly slow and most of the first hour or so takes place inside the interior of a car with just the main two actors Jessie Buckley and Jesse Plemons talking to one another and us also having a view to the woman's internal thoughts as she is the narrator of the film as well in many parts of it.
While I do think that both of these actors did a fine job, as did many of the others in the film, you really have to pay attention in order to really even have some clue as to what the hell is going on. The premise is that Jake(Plemons) and his girlfriend are going to meet his parents for dinner and the trip is long and kind of dreary. We are given the impression that the girlfriend is the main character but then all of a sudden her appearance changes and so does her name. In fact, she is referred to by 4 different names that I remember throughout the duration of the film. I guess this was kind of a clue as to the big secret of the film, but it also is a little difficult to stay focused on the dialogue since this is basically all that happens for the first 40 minutes or so.
I'm ok with dialogue-driven films but will admit that there were many times that I considered fast-forwarding because the couple is just talking about whatever in the car and I think this was meant to show to us that there is a tension between the two of them and as we can hear into the mind of "the girlfriend" this is because their relationship has gone sour.
When they finally arrive at the parents' house, things get even stranger because the parents that they are visiting are really odd people and during the dinner they change outfits and ages multiple times. These were meant to be more clues as to what is actually going on here but to me it is a bit too obtuse and unclear.
I would be very surprised if anyone out there can watch this film from start to finish and figure out what is really going on without reading some website to explain it to you after you are done with it. At one point a dance sequence happens out of nowhere and even a musical portion. This was really odd and made no sense to me again, until I had read the director's notes after I was finished with it.
In retrospect, I suppose the clues were there for me to figure out the "real" plot but at the time I just found myself getting frustrated with what was going on in front of me. I think that Kaufman was going for a very artistic piece here and for an audience that doesn't mind really dissecting a film, that they might enjoy this. I have been reading that you need to watch the film more than once to fully understand it but honestly, it isn't entertaining enough for me to sit through the more-than-2-hours of screentime just to pick up a clue or two.
Should I watch it?
I think that for most people that this is going to be too "out there" to really enjoy. This is NOT a casual watch and you really have to pay very close attention to have any idea about what is going on and even then, when the credits roll I would imagine that most people will have the same "huh?" reaction that I did.
For the right person who enjoys a movie that is more like a puzzle, they may enjoy it though. I think it all depends on the person. I actually enjoy the memory of the film a lot more now that it is over than I did when I was watching it.
