A Lot of Nothing

Mo McRae's directorial debut "A Lot of Nothing" tackles a sensitive and relevant topic - police killings of unarmed victims in the Black community. The film follows James and Vanessa, a wealthy Black couple, who perform their own twisted citizen's arrest after learning that their white neighbor and cop killed a kid. The film is audacious and creative in its cinematography and musical score. However, it falls short in its writing, as the characters are poorly developed and serve as mere soundboards for the film's proposed intelligence. The film's themes are not explored with meaningful depth, and the big reveal leaves the film's stance on race and social capital muddled. Despite its weaknesses, McRae shows promise in his direction and artistic capabilities.

I'm not sure where all those one-star ratings come from. This is an entertaining comedy of errors with an important premise. It has its flaws, but it's well-handled and well worth a little forgiveness. The acting is mostly competent, if not for the male lead. The production value is right up there, and the screenplay does a good job of carrying a number of different approaches to its political premise. I hope the director keeps evolving. I'll certainly watch more from him if he keeps churning them out.

My expectations were low given the ratings, but it's definitely not worthy of those one-star reviews.

This movie really was a whole lot of nothing. It talked about any and every thing. Police killings, treatment of women in the workplace, treatment of black men in the workplace, marriage, cheating, lying. There's probably something else I'm missing.

So what was the point? Hypocrisy. At least that's what I got from it.

But let's be honest, this movie could have been a LOT shorter. A smooth 75 minutes would have been more than enough. The big reveal honestly had me going to see who exactly had written and directed this movie. And then I was shocked. I didn't mind watching it once but I definitely wouldn't sit through it again.

A Lot of Nothing is a mostly decent movie with an interesting premise. That premise could have been executed a lot better, but I was still mildly enjoying most of it. My favorite is the character played by Shamier Anderson. And it feels technically well-made.

A few things hold this movie back for me. There are some subplots that seem completely unnecessary and don't fit the rest of the story. I also feel like the story lacks focus with it's themes, partly due to the unnecessary subplots. And when we find out details about the victim late in the movie, I strongly disliked where it went with that.

It's not the worst thing you can do with your time, but this isn't something I'd recommend. (1 viewing, 4/13/2023)

This movie was the worst thing to reach cinema or even make it out of production. I think this movie would have been better if they had killed the "antagonist" in the beginning. This movie had no point. There was no meaning to the man's death and if anything his death and the movie was told the wrong way and the worst way. AI could do better heck even a child just scribbling could have done better. This movie like this director and production meant nothing. I'm glad the actors and staff were paid because I wish I was. Watching this movie was like breaking a bone and a doctor saying let's break it again because we messed up. While watching this movie I had a nail removed from my foot and honesty I would rather the nail get put back into my foot so that no one has to watch this total waste of time and thought. The only good point about this movie is that I know when I see the director or producers name I know any future movies by them will just be a waste of time and hard earned money.