OK, this much reality is a Baaaaaaad thing

Rating: 3/10 (12 December 2004)

Why do I dislike this movie? Hmmmm. Perhaps because someone forgot to tell the screenwriters and director that sexually frank language do not a good movie make. Perhaps because there is not one sympathetic character among the four: I could accept three of them being horrid, but the audience needs something or someone to identify with in every movie, and this movie offered up nothing in that department. But more than anything, it is this "rawness" about which everyone keeps prattling on about that bothered me the most. I do not go to movies to be reminded of how bad life can be. If I wanted to hear people screaming vulgarities at each other and being utterly wretched, I'd put my parents in a room for a few hours and just listen. Granted, many movies (a la Schindler's List) show us that the world can be a dark and dreadful place, but in every movie I have ever seen that takes that approach, there are still nuggets of sunshine, some goodness that comes through. Once the humorous I'm conversation is over, this movie seemingly forgets that there can be anything good or funny in life, or that anyone would be interested in seeing something other than people being totally wretched to each other. I have never walked out of any other movie hating all the characters: this one is unique in that regard. While the acting and cinematography are certainly proficient, this movie manages to remain cold, uncaring, and overzealously brutal. I have no idea what alternate reality this movie took place in, but I've never been there and I never want to go.