It's Baby's First Social Commentary! But Give Those Who Rave About It Some Slack

Rating: 5/10 (15 February 2020)

This movie strongly reminded me of several different things as I watched it, the first was American Beauty. A film with a strong experiential component that is not matched by its actual message or "literary" value, and as such overrated in the moment and forgotten with time. Parasite is a very well composed and executed film, in terms of emotional engagement with the story and characters it gets you all dressed up and it's easy to feel as if you must have had somewhere to go. But you didn't.
The second was 'Let the Right One In'. That was a good movie that was basically rated 2 stars higher than it deserved by everyone in the United States because it had subtitles. Exotic and slightly more challenging to watch is easily conflated with quality by people who aren't especially self-perceptive in their thinking. Had Let the Right One In been in English and set in New York, well, the dumb and silly parts would have just seemed dumb and silly, and it would have had to stand entirely on its own quality, and not an imagined quality. Parasite is the same way. If it starred four American actors trying to get jobs as household help in LA, people would be quite meh about it. Actually given the nature of the plot, I think most people in America currently giving it a 10 would probably be a little insulted by screwball comedy plot that simultaneously seems to fawn over its own profundity, and would give it a lower rating than my 5 stars.
And third, this movie can't help but make me think of America's original class conscious, degenerately poor sitcom family, the Bundys from Married with Children. They even match by character: the intelligent but lame son, the beautiful but still poor sister who connives to get what she wants, the dead-eyed father crushed by life, and the ball-busting mother who really doesn't make anyone feel better. Just like the Bundy's they're comically poor while placed in a real life setting where anyone with their talents, willingness to work, and lack of any significant vices means they would at worst be regular poor. And probably decently well off.
They're also selectively stupid when required to be in order to make the plot work, which seems a little more forgivable in a weekly sitcom where the writers are forced to create drama dozens and dozens of times a year, but less so in a movie where they don't. The writers of Married with Children were also smarter in allowing their comedy to shoot for simply being funny, where here the slapstick situations lead to completely unfunny, dark, but still stupidly slapstick conclusions in a badly planned out gambit to give the movie "meaning".
Reading others' reviews, including some of the top ones on here, gives a good impression of why people liked this movie, as they discuss how it opened their eyes apparently to the relationship between the rich and their servants and perhaps the rich and poor in society generally. Which tells me that most of the people who really liked this film are for the most part, very inexperienced in life, and also not yet well read. I'm sure for someone with no first hand knowledge of the world and who hasn't delved into quality literature ever before, this is pretty profound stuff. It's easy to forget that if you're not just now crossing the starting line of life.
On the other hand, that hardly qualifies this movie as being great. If those who gave this movie a 10 are blown away by Parasite's subject matter, they need only head down to their local library and begin reading 19th century English literature to get a thousand times greater picture of what it is like for the serving poor and the separation between them and the rich. Victorian authors living in England included these basic facts of life out of course in their storylines without even meaning to have them signify some message, and if you liked that aspect of Parasite you'll quickly find the movie put to shame in its shallow depth of portrayal on the subject.
In the end what we really have is a dark comedy that misses it's own setup, and ends with a flailing attempt to create a message at the expense of creating a good story. It won't be the first Best Picture winner to lose its luster with every passing year as people look back upon it without hype and blindness for objective quality, but it at least is another to be added to the list.
5 out of 10 stars!