Wow - was that overrated or what?

Rating: 1/10 (13 March 2006)

I'm sorry, but for all the hoopla surrounding this movie, I expected more than what I got, which was nothing more than a drive-by shooting of liberal white male guilt.
The dialogue was always just a little too sharp and polished, more real than real as Tyrell said in "Blade Runner." Every line just dripped meaning and impact, every bit of film was a money shot of sociopolitical commentary. Oh, and every character was a stark raving bore.
And it's not that I want to come off as some sort of Pat O'Reilly worshipper, because I'm the furthest thing from that - but come on, can we get any more hamfisted and heavy with the social commentary than saying racism and intolerance is bad? If Hagis had thrown in a biting and pointed protest against land mines and rape, he'd have batted a perfect 1000 in the ball game of preaching to the choir.
This movie was incredibly tedious - the cinematic version of confession. And it's not even like the sins committed were all that grotesque. "Forgive me father, for I have sinned. Today I woke up and I was still rich and white and I just wish I could do something for all of those poor, poor minorities who wish they were like me!" "Make a movie my son and bore the living hell out of every viewer out there and all will be forgiven." Paul Haggis - if you ever read this: Get over yourself. It's nothing more than a sophomoric jab at a problem that was grossly misrepresented by a liberal mind too set in its preconceptions of what is wrong to actually get the problem stated right in the first place.