Bizarre without Logic

Rating: 4/10 (27 April 2010)

Before viewing Mulholland Drive (2001) I was prepared for a bizarre experience primarily because David Lynch has made some of the most abnormal movies ever created (Blue Velvet and Eraserhead). Although I was one of the few people who hated Blue Velvet I went into viewing Mulholland Drive with high expectations because the film was met with such high praise from critics. I was disappointed to say the least. After watching the film I immediately went to Roger Ebert's review of the film to see if I had missed anything within the story or in Lynch's camera-work. I had not but I was intrigued by Ebert's last paragraph in which he states that if you need your movies to contain logic, Mulholland Drive is not the film for you. Personally for me I enjoy movies in which the connections are made clear between the characters as well as a storyline which makes sense. In my opinion Mulholland Drive has neither, which made it almost impossible for me to care about what happened within the plot. I'll admit that there is some interesting camera-work done as well as some entertaining scenes, but the majority of the time I was so distracted by the ridiculous occurrences in the story that I simply did not care what was happening on screen by the time the movie reached the half-way point.
I am all up for films that require you to come up with your own interpretation to what is happening but there is a difference between challenging the viewer and straight up confusing the audience beyond words. Mulholland Drive falls in the latter category. So if you like asking yourself the question, What the hell is going on? every five minutes, Mulholland Drive is the film for you. Otherwise avoid it at all cost.