Forum Overview :: Motherfucking News :: Re: That's exactly what many people would think.

[quote name="Choson"][quote name="Ray of Light"]I can't say whether you're making that observation out of ignorance or not, but I recommend getting to know a few drunks. A guy who's avoided bringing people to his home because there're -- literally -- three hundred empty bottles of Cutty Sark covering every flat surface; or who's rear-ended someone at a stoplight and, after being told to wait in his car by the cop, backs into the cop car; or who donated three fingers to a milling machine but can't tell the story because it's blacked out, is a guy with some observations on life that you aren't going to find anywhere else. Ray![/quote] No, I'm just saying the Life Aquatic isn't as great as you're making it out to be. It's fun to watch, it's somewhat amusing, but it certainly isn't the laugh-out loud funny of his earlier movies, or even Tenenbaums. I can remember the reveal of those huge Miguel Calderon paintings in Eli Cash's house, and the pure absurdity making me and the entire theatre bust out laughing, but there were a lot of kind of failed attempts at that in Life Aquatic -- calling the interns "Interns" and saying "they shared a glock" was one of those almost-there jokes that just didn't work, and which felt like weaker derivatives of the student extras in Rushmore and even that sidekick kid of Bill Murray's in Tenenbaums. In Rushmore, the re-occuring raccoon-eyed kid was a neat little addition, whereas Seu Jorge's contrived musical performances felt gimmicky, at least to me. Entertaining, but certainly a lot less subtle. Even worse, the Life Aquatic's attempts at drama and emotional tension felt like they were shoe-horned in there because otherwise it would just be a wacky movie: the keeping of letters from years ago, the helicopter crash, the revelations about his mom's cancer and Murray's character lying around on the floor lamenting his old age -- probably sounded great on paper, but it felt like an afterthought on screen. I would have been more pleased with the film if it had just been completely ludicrous and not tried to throw that stuff in there. Watch Rushmore again -- I realize I keep harping on it, but every element of drama in there, from the father-son relationship and the weird crush on Miss Cross by Max Fischer that builds to that really uncomfortable scene in her classroom ("You think we're going to have sex?") to Murray's fucked up marriage and kids ("Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I'd have kids like these"), the whole sad Thanksgiving of isolation, but it's basically the only film where Wes Anderson got that weird mix of comedy and drama perfect. It kind of helps that instead of Cate Blanchett's stunt casting as twee Britishwoman Jane "Cubby" Whatever, Olivia Williams actually seemed demonstrably real. Anyhow, that's why I think Life Aquatic is "unfunny", and not good, and other stuff. But mostly not really good. Although yeah, no one's gonna argue with you that it has some really nifty production design. And Bud Cort as the Bond Company Stooge was a really inspired casting choice, especially when he started breaking out the Tagalog.[/quote]