Exceptionally well-acted, but the story is lacking

Rating: 8/10 (21 March 2007)

I found it very well-acted, and the characters compelling and sympathetic, but I felt the story was a bit thin and made the ending not as powerful as it could have been. While I think Jack Nicholson's performance is simply magnetic, possibly because of his energetic character, I found Louise Fletcher's role to be too abbreviated, and, as a result, not as villainous as I was expecting. The performance was great, but I found it to be much more of a supporting role than a lead one. The story just seems to be a series of events strung loosely along, and didn't really lead up to the powerful ending well. The ending was still emotional, though, mostly because of the great performances. The highlight of the film, for me, is the realistic relationships between all the characters - I found no weak links in the expansive cast, and the characters all felt real. I found the direction really noticeable at times, like when McMurphy's reactions are focused on during the argument between Harding and Taber, but wholly unremarkable at others. It's very funny, too, though I feel almost ashamed for laughing at the mental handicaps, and I'm not sure what the filmmakers' intention was. Overall, I found it to be slightly overrated, if only because I thought the story was slightly lacking, but certainly deserving of the accolades for its cast - especially Jack.