The Film Nudist reviews: Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood

Rating: 5/10 (5 August 2019)

As our favorite filmmakers continue to create movies, it's important not to heap praises on their films just because we like the person making them. I was ready to do that with "Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood" before stepping into the theatre. I heard this was a hangout movie, a sort of buddy comedy where people experience life and have a good time while doing it. And in a way, that's exactly what this movie is. As my incredibly attractive (listen, I'm not gay, Alex) friend said, the movie could be described as a bunch of non sequiturs that take place in 1960's Hollywood. On one hand, that's exactly what this movie is. But on the other hand, the last 20 minutes of the movie turn into, completely out of nowhere I might add, a surreal revenge-porn fantasy that, in my opinion, cheapened everything that came before it. While this movie is impressive on a technical level, I didn't personally consider it enjoyable. Now this might change on re-watches, but as of right now, my first impression is that this movie was, unfortunately, kind of mediocre.
In terms of acting, this movie delivers. Leo and Brad deliver some of the most natural and entertaining Tarantino dialogue since "Jackie Brown," and it's fun to watch them hang out, drink beer, and watch TV together. And while them hanging out takes up a good majority of the scenes in this film, the main crux of it is about Leo's character, Rick Dalton, experiencing a monumental amount of self doubt regarding his apparently withering star status. And this leads to some of the best scenes in the movie. Every time Leo was seen getting into character or filming his western, playing the villain no less, was incredibly entertaining. Specifically, watch out for the scenes that feature Leo and Julia Butters, who is probably the finest actress in the entire movie. I mean, her scenes with him are magnificent. Of course, Brad Pitt was amazing as well and had some of the funniest scenes in the movie, the one with Bruce Lee especially. I haven't seen Bradley Pitts on the big screen since "Allied," so it was great to see the little guy in a theatre again.
The set, production, and costume design were all also fantastic, but even a blind man could tell that. Now I'm not from the 1960's, so I can't speak to how accurate the portrayal of that time period was in this film. However, my grandfather is from the 1960's, but he's dead so he can't speak for that either (pour one out for my grandpa). But regardless, the sets were immaculately built and beautiful to watch on screen. The music, too, was fun to listen to, especially during scenes where Brad Pitt would just drive around. Those were great excuses for the audience to simply sit back and enjoy the music and scenery. And now let's get to the things I didn't like.
As I mentioned, this movie could be seen as a slice of life type film where a bunch of characters go around and live their lives in 1960's Hollywood. And it is that, until the last 20 minutes where Tarantino had to, just had to, turn this movie into a revenge fantasy. We all know Quentin fetishizes revenge, violence, and feet (and yeah, there are like a million feet shots in this movie so if you're into feet too, no doubt you'll be creaming your pants). And in his other movies, the revenge sequences felt at least mildly earned and justifiable. But here, it literally comes out of nowhere with hardly any buildup, if you can even consider the Manson family subplot buildup in the first place. The Manson family is shown less than a handful of times in this movie, and every time they're on screen, they are hardly portrayed as threatening. Yes, we know that in real life they awfully and brutally murdered Sharon Tate. But in the context of this movie specifically, they don't do anything that warrants the brutal beat down that gets delivered to them at the end of this movie. And even if you do think that, in the context of this movie, they deserve to get killed, I personally don't think they needed to get killed in such a violent manner. I didn't want, or need, to see a woman get her face smashed repeatedly into everything within arms reach. I didn't need to see another woman get mauled by a dog while screaming horrifically for five minutes. I didn't need to see that same woman, bruised, bloodied, and battered, get torched to death by a flamethrower either, the camera almost lovingly showing her charred body in all its glory. The violence was just too much, out of nowhere, with little buildup, and no reason for it to take place besides, "I'm Quentin Tarantino and I want my revenge on the Manson cult!"
"Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood" has its moments. I loved seeing Leo and Brad on screen together, and certain scenes were definitely entertaining. But as a whole, the disjointed narrative and ultra-violence was enough for this film to disappoint me.
5/10