Anora

Way too much of this movie's two hours is taken up with watching a fairly repulsive young couple -- an overprivileged Russian billionaire's sex-and-drug-crazed son and the brassy "sex worker" of the title -- getting it on in various ways and settings. They're both incredibly shallow, stupid, and greedy, though at least you get the sense that she hasn't enjoyed the easy life that he's had. Despite her occupation, she retains a certain believable naïveté.

That's the boring part of the movie. It goes on far too long.

The dumbest part involves the boy's three improbably clownish Russian handlers, who, in what's obviously meant to be a funny scene, behave like actors in a slapstick comedy. It doesn't work at all.

If you don't bail out at that point (as I was tempted to do), you'll find the final portion somewhat more satisfying.

I don't understand at all how this got 5 Oscar's this year. I'm watching for the first time as it has now hit streaming and I was left very confused. It was slow in the first half, picked up a little in the second and then the last half went back to being slow. A lot of scenes were super drawn out, there was no need for the film to be as long as it was. We got absolutely no back story on Anora at all which is what I was waiting for. Don't get me wrong, Mikey Madison isn't a bad actress but I was waiting for more. For the most part she just cursed, showed her body and screamed a lot. I didn't really see a performance worth best actress, even though her performance wasn't terrible. The script also wasn't that good, there were a lot of pieces that were overly repetitive and the characters were pretty much one dimensional. I guess the audience is left to use our imagination but I wish we were given more for the runtime.

The first 40 minutes can be quite misleading, likely catching viewers off guard if they enter with the expectation of a romantic narrative.

Once the first act concludes and the second act kicks in, there's a striking shift in both tone and style that I honestly did not see coming.

The comedy is genuinely entertaining, with moments that will have you laughing out loud. Despite serious circumstances, the absurdity of the situations elicits laughter and chuckles.

They have certainly nailed the dark comedy sides of the story.

However, I found the dramatic elements to be less impactful than I had anticipated, leaving me puzzled by the overwhelmingly positive feedback it has garnered from all around.

While Mikey Madison delivered an impressive performance, and fully deserves every praise coming along her way, her character needed more depth to properly flourish. It feels as if the writing intentionally held back on details, leaving the job of contemplation solely to the audience.

I wish that weren't the case.

Mediocre. As simple as that. How can a movie, not necessarily stylized, but constraint by budgetary issues, full of clichés and lacking in originality both in the screenplay storyline and its characters, with average acting by all cast, become such an industry darling? There's no redeeming qualities that would lead ANORA to get such high scores by both moviegoers and, especially, critics.

The main character's journey brings her and us back to where the story began. She learns nothing and we are left wondering what could make it a special show. It is not by any standards, except for the current need to reward what is not considered mainstream.

The movie is truly an enticing advertisement for why all girls should stop studying and work a stripper/escort. Acting is mediocre at best and the story is well .... for the lack of a better word mind-numbing as it reflects the super consumption fueled glam lifestyle every fashion magazine and Kardashian reality shows attempt to sell. How is this borderline pornographic crap-fest for 14 to 18 year old audiences was deemed worthy of an Oscar was beyond comprehension. I do have to admit the staging, scenery and costumes were quite suitable to tell the story but the dialogues (straight out of high school locker room was cringeworthy. Please help me comprehend how low the Oscar bar has been dropped in recent years or who the Russian mob paid off to make sure this mediocre flick received such high praise.