"Artfully" Pointless

Rating: 2/10 (17 December 2015)

"Mrs. Robinson, are you trying to seduce me?" That is the only memorable line in the film. That is really the only worthwhile moment in the film. The Graduate is devoid of meaningful content. Its characters have little to no growth throughout the film and when they do change the changes make no logical sense. What the movie tells the viewer is happening and what the viewer sees are two entirely different things. Benjamin Braddock is supposed to be seen as a confused young man trying to find his purpose while being corrupted by an charming older woman who then falls in love wither her daughter.. Instead we are shown a weak willed little man who is taunted into sleeping with a cold old woman who then becomes a her daughters stalker. None of these characters are endearing. None of these characters make decisions that would rationally be made even by those caught in the throes of late adolescent confusion. There is some creative direction in the movie. However the long montage scene only serves to throw off the viewer's sense of time. And endless folk rock songs do not aid the films tone if they are way overplayed. This is a movie meant to portray the new generation breaking off from its parents generation. Instead it shows us a series of unbelievable bad decisions made by irritating characters whose nonsensical behavior makes them completely un-relatable or identifiable.