Where is the Essence of this Movie?

Rating: 4/10 (20 September 2007)

When looking at movies, sometimes you have to be willing to suspend your normal conventions and accept something totally off the wall. It is no doubt this reaction that Julie Taymour is looking for with her film "Across the Universe." When watching the trailers, I got a feeling that this film was, at its essence, a film about the protest movement of the 70's, and the free spirits that fueled this movement. Well, having watched it, I have to say that I don't have that sense anymore. In fact, I'm not sure what, at its essence, this film is about.
To rehash the plot as I saw it, a young Englishman named Jude ventures over to the USA in search of the father he never knew...the father who as a soldier left his mother with "a bun in the oven," and never saw her again. When he makes it to the USA, he finds out that his father is a janitor who has a wife and children. On this, one could feel for Jude.
Then, through "fate," Jude meets a privileged jerk named Max who, having whacked a golf ball through the window of some other students, looks to hide so that he doesn't have to face the consequences of his actions. Privileged jerk is the ONLY thing that seems to sum up Max, though in spite of the obvious differences in their character, Jude and Max become friends.
The reality is that this "friendship" is only a smoke screen to bring Lucy into Jude's radar. You see, even though he has a girlfriend in England who he promises to write, once Lucy comes on the scene, Jude forgets all about his girlfriend, and decides to carve out a new life for himself in New York with Lucy.
Max is drafted into the army, and tries to get out of serving by telling them he's a "cross dressing homosexual with a spot" on his lung (put there by swallowing a cotton ball), however he is unsuccessful and this prompts Lucy (who lost her first boyfriend to the Vietnam war) to take up a protest cause. And Jude, who once told Lucy that he loved Max, becomes jealous of Lucy's relationship with protest leader Paco.
Inject into all of this a litany of images, overexposed colors, colorful characters and the number of times one feels like this is all supposed to be a drug induced haze runs practically from the beginning right through to the end of the movie.
"Across the Universe" is undoubtedly a musical, looking to work 60's and 70's music over and over into the action of the story. It is impossible not to make comparison's with the other musical released this year, "Hairspray," and yet the truth is that for all the "ground breaking visuals" that Taymour concocts, the film is no where near as fun as "Hairspray," and no where near as effective. The dancing that made sense in "Hairspray" doesn't make near as much sense here! So what does it have going for it? Well, lots of pretty, pretty people, and lots of colorful characters. Jude's first compliment to Lucy is that she has perfect teeth, however so does he. The funny thing is that he shouldn't have perfect teeth- he's neither rich enough to see a dentist on a regular basis, nor disciplined enough (i.e. he's a smoker) to make any sense of his appearance.
Jude is also so judgmental of his father for abandoning his mother, however he does pretty much an even more selfish thing in abandoning his girlfriend to carve out some living in the USA, which he technically didn't have a right to do.
After having sat through "Across the Universe" for 90 minutes, I'd finally had enough and walked out. If what you're looking for in a film is the feel of an acid trip, then perhaps this is the film for you. If not, I'd recommend you try another film: "Hairspray."