Sorry, But No

Rating: 3/10 (28 April 2019)

I see "uneven" used a lot in reviews for this. Yeah. That's one word that can be used. I'll bet this sounded really good in development. We know it's true that Stalin was laying about for quite a while, getting.....errr, stale.....as his coterie worriedly discusses what to do. We know a power struggle followed. Why not make a black comedy about the death of Stalin? It has all the ingredients. Except it doesn't work. It doesn't work as a dark comedic satire; it doesn't work as drama. Several actors seem to have wandered in from other films (Jason Isaacs seems have dropped in for a visit from a funnier film.) Why doesn't it work? The actors are fine, but they don't seem to have gelled (jelled?) as a cast. Tambor isn't the least bit funny, which is strange. How can you make Jeffrey Tambor not funny?
The timing is off. The film feels flat. The satire lands with a thud. The corpse-like makeup on the characters is too obvious. We get it. They're surrounded by death because they cause death; they are death. The whole system is about murder and lies. And even though the death of a monster who is surrounded by monsters trying to figure out which one will become the new top monster should lend itself to satire......this film doesn't. That's too bad.