Great-Ish

Rating: 7/10 (20 January 2020)

Being someone who has never seen any other Tarantino film, I watched this film without any knowledge of his usual style. The films strongest aspects are the acting, the dialogue, the 60s style, and the ending. While the film's weak points include it's writing, pacing, and tone. Meanwhile, the directing can be good for some scenes while others; not so much. Leonardo DiCaprio is the film's big highlight; he brings so much emotion and charm to the film and despite his sometime failed methods to make me believe he's not just playing a role in other films; here he immersed himself in this role. Brad Pitt is charming and enjoyable; Margot Robbie, while not having many lines, still brings home some fun interactions throughout the film. The different conversations occurring between the actors is believable and astonishing. The 60s style takes you back in time. Finally, the ending is effing awesome. Despite these strong points; the film lacks a plot or at the very least a plot that's plausible. And most of the scenes in this film drag out for ages; however that may have been the intention and the problem isn't evident with the acting and dialogue saving each scene. The directing can feels nonexistent for most of the film; sometimes it works in the film's favor by allowing you to indulge in the film and other times scenes that severely need direction have none. Also, the tone of the film often switches from lightheartedness to darker scenes. Although most films use a switch in tone, this one is blatantly obvious. If a Tarantino film is like this one than perhaps I should watch more of them. The film's weak and strong points are able to balance out each other to where the film is objectively great from a filmmaking perspective but not great subjectively if your looking for a comedy, blockbuster.