Whoa

Rating: 5/10 (20 January 2020)

If you can get past the painful anachronistic quality of the language or the fine line between dark humor and tasteless this may be for you. There may have been a reason Jerry Lewis decided not to release "The Day The Clown Cried" Simply put...the Holocaust and those who chose to fight on their behalf between lines probably deserves a respectful tone. Instead...the very modern attitude makes it seem like a farce. It's extremely dishonest and when serious things DO happen, you cannot undo them. Towards the end, we get a taste of what that is.
I will give director Waititi credit...this is a swing for the fences, and for the most part works, but I think it'll leave many people wondering why. That said...the other grating thing is knowing the audience knows how reality turns out. Hitler loses. In a bizarro world, it doesn't feel like he does here. In fact, regardless of the child (literally) kicking Hitler to the curb, you sense indoctrination is taken too lightly.
Still...some touching moments with mom Scarlett Johansson though her German accent is horrific...and the efforts to make her this angelic savior of Jewd feels phony. Given Hollywood's penchant for concealing their own monsters.
I'd say middling is very fair.