The Art of Self-Pity and Silent, Sentimental Mush

Rating: 5/10 (6 July 2013)

*Possible Spoilers*
Nope. Sorry. I found The Artist's "silent movie" concept to be, for the most part, a major misfire and a real test of my patience.
OK. At first I could accept (sort of) this film's "no talking" policy because its story was set in the years of silent films (from 1927), but, once its story moved into the talking era, the effect of non-speaking actors and the continued use of dialog cards quickly lost its initial novelty.
There was absolutely nothing new or fresh about what went on in The Artist's story. Like, haven't we all seen this same old scenario all before, ad nauseum?
Since The Artist relied solely on nobody audibly speaking to carry it through to its corny ending, that, from my perspective, just wasn't sufficient enough to keep the picture interesting and hold my undivided attention. I found it was a badly conceived idea for a feature-length picture.
Even though this b&w film was a depiction of the silent-era of film, it, in itself, did not have the proper feel of an authentic silent picture. It had clearly missed the mark.
I have seen plenty of silent films in my days, but The Artist just wasn't able to capture that essential feeling which naturally comes to one while viewing a genuine "silent". The look and feel of this film was definitely all wrong.
I really can't believe that The Artist actually won an Oscar for "Best Picture". This is one of those movies that (again) I suspect people are afraid to come right out and say that they don't really like it much. Because if you say that then you're considered to be so uncool (or something equally dumb like that).
Now, don't get me wrong here, I'm not saying that I hated The Artist (there were parts about it that appealed to me), but, it really wasn't deserving of all the praise and admiration that it garnered for itself.
Perhaps if The Artist had been a bit more uplifting like Singin' In The Rain, instead of focusing so intensely in on George Valentin's tedious, self-pitying despair, then I think it would've been worthy of all the acclaim that was heaped upon it. But, as The Artist stood, it wasn't adequate enough to be considered such an all-time winner.
And, to be honest, the only "character" in this picture who I thought was deserving of an Oscar for "Best Actor" was the cute, little dog who knew about a million clever tricks. Yeah. I think that this smart pup deserved to be at least named, but, sadly enough, he remained nameless throughout this film's 100 minutes of silence which was literally so loud at times that it was almost deafening.