full of ambiguities and contradictions

Rating: 8/10 (5 May 2019)

I've always had something of a problem with this film. At the time of its theatrical release I was the same age as Dustin Hoffman was playing in the film (even though he was actually ten years older) and I had just got married. Also, and certainly at the time more importantly, there was the music. I had been a great fan of Paul Simon's and this soundtrack seemed overly sweetened with the use of Garfunkel's voice. However that is all a long time ago now and I found much pleasure in watching this on Blu-ray. Hoffman still seems a bit old for a college kid rebelling against his parents, Anne Bancroft still doesn't strike me as sexy and the whole setting seems so awfully privileged and stifling, whilst, of course, at the same time allowing these 'kids' to motor around in sports cars and to give no thought to work. However, the film is well put together, the performances are uniformly good and Buck Henry's script seems spot on. Even if Hoffman's character does seem rather spoiled there is enough believable angst to have some sympathy and to enjoy the very end. Here, also though, I know notice, nothing is anything like as clear cut as seemed a few minutes earlier, which is good. The film is full of ambiguities and contradictions and it is why, in the end, it works so well.