Massively Overhyped

Rating: 5/10 (27 July 2019)

I had such high hopes for this film & couldn't wait to go watch it on opening night. Anytime a new Quentin film comes out, it's always an exciting event. And for months, we've been hearing that this film was gonna be about the Manson family murders, which made it even more exciting. But unfortunately, this movie was extremely underwhelming for what we were promised. It felt like a neverending montage of 60's Hollywood tourist stops with endless underdeveloped characters who never get flushed out at all, and a plot that felt very unorganized & never seemed to go anywhere.
The film centers primarily around Leonardo DiCaprio's character, a television actor who's trying to transition into Western films after pulling the plug on his successful TV show where he played a Bounty Hunter. Terrified at the idea that he made the wrong career choice & may not have much success in feature films, he unravels into an obscene, drunken mess on his first film. It was an interesting storyline but here's the one major problem: Leo's character is deeply, DEEPLY unlikeable. From the very beginning of the film, he comes across as very snobby & arrogant, which makes it really hard to care about whether or not he ends up finding success as a movie actor.
On to Brad Pitt, who is definitely the character favorite for this film. He's DiCaprio's longtime stuntman in this film. The 2 characters have worked together for years & are like brothers. Pitt's character is hilarious & fun. But there was never anything to his character as far as story or conflict or development or anything. He was just there to serve as a sidekick to DiCaprio & kick people's asses for entertainment here & there, other than that there wasn't much to him at all.
And finally, the whole subplot regarding Charles Manson & Sharon Tate: this part of the film was pretty much just a footnote. We don't even get to that part of the film until the last half hour, after watching a long, dragged-out film about Leonardo trying to find himself as an actor & Brad Pitt driving all around Hollywood going to different places. Then we finally get the scene with the Manson family. And while the ending is entertaining, I was still pretty disappointed.
Of all Quentin's films, I'd say this one is definitely one of the worst. I just expected so much more& felt really underwhelmed by the time it was over.