A Sad misfire for an otherwise talented group...

Rating: 1/10 (11 January 2009)

I think one reviewer on Rotten Tomatoes said it best when describing this film: "If you want to be a movie snob this year, this is the one to say you've enjoyed. If you want to be entertained, this is the movie to avoid." I want to start off by saying that I think Paul Thomas Anderson is a wonderful talent. He made great films in Boogie Nights and Magnolia, and made a wonderful attempt with Punch Drunk Love. This film, however, misses the mark in a profound way. I gave it only one star largely because the film fails to achieve anything it sets out to do.
I see comments from reviewers on IMDb talking about the wonderful character that Daniel Day-Lewis has created, but I see nothing more than your garden variety sociopath. Day-Lewis is a fine actor, but here he appears to simply be performing a Bill the Butcher retread, and the character is sadly overacted. Perhaps it is blasphemy to talk of this much-heralded actor performing at anything less than Oscar caliber, but I simply found myself struggling to believe this role several times during the film. (most notably the baptism, the scene is unintentionally comical) As for the film itself, the pacing is incredibly poor, the plot is weak and disjointed, the character development is almost completely absent, and the script is simply uninteresting. The film wants so badly to be unique and clever, but sadly ends up eccentric for eccentric sake.
Admittedly part of the reason I gave this film only one star is the praise the film has received, from both critics and misguided viewers. This is a film that picks up steam from a critical standpoint, and viewers feel obliged to mirror the sentiment. In this case, the idea that this is a masterpiece (to any degree), is simply laughable.
My guess is that if you were to ask your most pretentious friend what they thought of this film, they will tell you of its brilliance. If you were to ask your most honest friend, they will tell you it bored and irritated them, whilst stealing nearly 3 hours of their life, without hope of return.
One last note is the score to this film. Some - again - found it inspired and the stuff of legend. For me, it was one of the most grating and frustrating parts of the film. I think I have an idea of what the filmmakers were trying to accomplish here, but instead they simply destroy even more of the film's potential coherence.