In a Dream within a Dream within a Dream, Nobody Can Hear You Fall Asleep Before the Movie Ends

Rating: 2/10 (14 February 2017)

I've tried now to watch this movie on 2 or 3 separate occasions with an open mind and haven't been able to finish it. It's just too boring. If I were to see another scene of a DiCaprio explaining the plot and wacky dream world rules to one of his teammates, I couldn't even...Whenever they get to the snow/skiing scene like some James Bond movie, I yawn and turn it off.
You know the premise is weak and/or over-complicated when the lead actor spends as much time narrating as he does acting. There are just so many unneeded layers, terms, and pseudo- philosophical/intellectual gobbledy gook asides. Just plain tacky. Chemists and architects (cast Jason Alexander in that role and we have a movie) and whatever Joseph Gordon-Levitt's job description was. Add in a phantom, delusional Marion Cotillard and a little gratuitous Michael Caine-- tell Chris Nolan he can leave Alfred out of this one.
Here we have a plot with no real consequences that doesn't really explore anything of substance and with actors that seem to be going through the motions. It seemed like a pair of screenplay writers that were in an active competition to see who could obfuscate and torture the story line the most thoroughly; and they both won. Problematically, people tend to glorify and overrate things that feign sophistication and complexity. There isn't anything sophisticated here-- just made up, illogical, scene-serving hot garbage with some pretty CGI. This is a textbook style-over- substance movie.
I can say, however, this movie was successful in subjecting me to inception. The idea implanted deep in my subconscious was that this was a really bad movie; a movie that is criminally overrated at 8.8/10. Yuck.