Frustrating for 2/3, Fun for 1/3

Rating: 6/10 (27 July 2019)

To preface this review, I want to express how much I enjoy the respective filmographies of QT, DiCaprio, and Pitt. These three are hilarious, visionary, and explosive in their previous films. QT, for the longest time, was my favorite screenwriter, DiCaprio my favorite performer, and Pitt my favorite Nazi killer. I was palpably excited for this film, wanting to love it before I even bought the ticket.
But, this film is a tedious slog; and for one discernible reason: Tarantino's screenplay. Even with DiCaprio and Pitt giving it their all in the performance department, the first two hours of the film are bland, frustrating, and entirely too confusing for what is actually going on. The screenplay is pompous and over reliant on stylistic decisions instead of developing a story. While Tarantino's drooling over classic filmmaking is at first fun, it ultimately rings hollow because the audience realizes they are not watching a story, but instead digesting the remnants of a wet dream driven by 60's nostalgia. For example, there are nearly (what feels like) 45 insert shots of Los Angeles landmarks and restaurant signs, with no purpose other than to say "Look, here's that place from California, isn't it cool?" Also frustrating in the same sense is QT's obsession (I guess obsession is the right word) with overlong sequences of characters driving vintage cars. These sequences --dare I even call them sequences-- with the exception of Pitt twice, provide 0 insight into the characters or the story. Every time QT cuts to a car driving I felt like someone was slowly squeezing air out of my lungs. QT expected the stylized filmmaking to carry the film without introducing anything as much as a compelling conflict.
The biggest issue I have with the film, to repeat, is the screenplay and it's structure. The film dedicates massive chunks of screentime to Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) as an attempt to splatter bits and pieces of tension throughout. QT knows that we know the real-life Tate's tragic ending. He tries to use our knowledge of the Manson murders as a means of heightening a subtextual dramatic irony. While this is good in premise, it is shallow in execution. The portion of film allotted to Tate serves no purpose to Dalton (the main character) nor to the development of Tate herself (imagine an entire storyline where a character does not grow/feel/love/change)-- which entirely frustrates and bores me, the viewer. This choice was deliberate, QT wanted to subvert the audience's expectations for the third act; but a deliberate mess is ultimately still a mess. The macro-editing (as I will call it related to the blocking and pacing of the film) is massively in need of restructuring. The editor of this film should have recognized that absolutely nothing changes in about half the film and got to chopping.
Instead of legitimately developing Rick Dalton, he is given shallow characterization and an unempathetic storyline. At the beginning of the film, he comes across as whiny; and, at the end of the film, he still comes across as conceited, self-centered, and whiny. Because of how unrelatable and unlikable Dalton is at the beginning of the film, I was unsure whether to care or not about his development at all. However, I did find the character pretty damn entertaining in about three scenes that are performed expertly by DiCaprio. When he breaks down because of his alcoholism, we are actually given a view into the innards of a compelling character. Outside of these few scenes, I struggled to care about Dalton.
The climax, albeit painfully uncentered around Dalton, is a ton of fun. While maybe not original (as a similar thing happens in Inglorious Basterds) the final third is still a blast. The violence is brutally funny and the comedy is hilariously brutal. Pitt delivers a perfectly intoxicated performance and the physical comedy lands perfectly. Despite the valley that is the first two hours, the last 45 is a fiery mountaintop of excitement and classic QT violence.
To wrap up my thoughts: DiCaprio and Pitt provide strong performances, Tarantino's gluttonous screenplay should be bled and rebuilt, and the third act is fantastically fun.