Coulda, shoulda, woulda stayed home

Rating: 1/10 (29 December 2006)

You will constantly be told 'You have to turn your brain on to watch this movie'. Well, maybe that's true, but I would have found more enjoyment trying to solve a rubiks cube for the first time without instructions than trying to solve this random assortment of clips. I didn't know what to expect when going to this movie, maybe I didn't have my brain turned on. And maybe, based on the reactions of 90% of everyone else in the theater at the end of the movie, I wasn't the only one. The rating of the movie, a 7.2, surely surprises me. Perhaps most of the people rating it are the ones who enjoyed, and 90% of the people who saw it but didn't rate it simply decided to take as much effort rating the film as the creators did in making it.
The movie itself is constantly jumping between 1940 and 1961. The switches are often pretty quick, especially in the beginning. Since the characters had no change in appearance between the dates, the audience is forced to keep constant track of what year the events are taking place in so they can tie it all together later. They never can. It also seemed like too many stories and events were trying to be told at once, but the main ones seem so insignificant to the plot(I should say, me saying this is incredible because if I had to write what the plot was, your guess is as good as mine).
If you are expecting an action movie, it is not. If you are expecting a mystery, it is not that either. (again, referring to the plot, not the creation of the film itself) You know though, this movie, at least the concept, has such great potential to be great. Had they cut out 2 hours of B.S. and filled it with character and plot developments, I could see myself rating this an 8 or higher. The acting was not bad, and I wouldn't discredit the actors for doing their part. But my, my oh my, this was likely the most exhausting movie I have seen in a long time, if not ever. If that's your cup of tea, then by all means, check it out. But for me, and I assume the majority of viewers, we like to have twists and conclusions we can easily make sense of. If I can't easily make sense of it, that is not my fault.
But fact of the matter is, call me an idiot, I can't solve a rubiks cube, and if someone were to hand me one, I'd simply say 'No thanks' because my interest in solving a rubiks cube is slim to none. And with that said, this movie was a rubiks cube to me.