Let Him Be

Rating: 4/10 (7 July 2000)

IMHO, this is one of the most overrated films of '99. Broken down into constituent elements its got a lot going for it: a certainly original story and a well-crafted telling of it; interesting characters well-played by all; and principals we all like to like (the two central Johns especially for me).
But what I was quickly left with in this film is: so what? When you put together all these elements, at the end of the experience are we left with anything that really means anything to anybody? Not for me. Frankly, I'm tired of all the nihilism that comes out of Hollywood and tries to pass for art and entertainment -- American Beauty and Pulp Fiction come readily to mind -- go ahead and blast away. We fool ourselves into thinking that these kinds of films show a maturing of the audience, when, in fact, its only the dumbing down of the audience and vastly lowered expectations that allow these things to be made in the first place. Just because a movie never could have been brought to an audience only a few years back, because the audience wouldn't have stood for it, doesn't mean those audiences of the past were lacking sophistication. They just had a finer appreciation for the real meaning of drivel. You know, it's OK to say something's crap when it is, and even better to be able to say so when just about everyone else says otherwise.
The best I can say is that, fortunately, John Malkovich will go right on playing compelling characters in movies hereon out, and I'll be able finally to forget this one.
I didn't like this movie very much.