Coastal Elites

Excellent theatre, well written and performed by all concerned, and I am totally on the same page as the writer!

Hopefully, there is to be an additional monologue to come, and it will be from a person who danced on the grave of Trump!

I wish I could have danced on the grave of Margaret Thatcher, and I feel the same about Trump and Johnson, the two most divisive fascists since Hitler!

God Bless, Miriam.

"Coastal Elites" (2020 release; 87 min.) brings 5 monologues (the opening credits actually call them "rants") about what life in the COVID-19 and Trump era is like. In the 1st piece ("Lock Her Up"; 25 min.) Bette Midler plays Miriam Nessler, a liberal Jewish widow. She is in the interrogation room of the local jail, following a complaint by a Trump supporter that Miriam intimidated him. Miriam goes from cold to hot, ranting and raving against Trump and his Kool-Aid drinking supporters. "That man's name", she hisses, unable to say Trump's name... Subsequent monologues are "Supergay" (18 min.), about a gay actor playing a gay superhero; "The Blonde Cloud" (15 min.) about a Black women who went to boarding school with Ivanca, who now wants to befriend her again; "Because I Have To Tell Someone" (16 min.), about a liberal woman attending a family reunion, where everyone is a Trump supporter, and last but not least "President Miriam" (13 min.), about a nurse getting to know Miriam (yes, the same Miriam as in the first piece) as she battles COVID-19 in a NY hospital.

Couple of comments: this is the latest film directed by Jay Roach (the Austin Powers franchise; the Meet the Fockers franchise; etc.). This, though, is unlike any other film he has made. It brings 5 monologues that are filmed in a Zoom-like setting. Very little production. Instead we listen to these intense and for the most overtly political rants and raves that address what life is like in the current Trump and COVID-19 era. As you can well imagine, not many kind words are said about Trump. OK, none. So if you are someone who is drinking the Trump Kool-Aid by the gallons, you may want to watch something else, as your Dear Leader is chewed up and spit out. While Bette Midler's piece is the longest and highest profile, I thought the very last piece, about Midler's character Miriam as experienced by a registered nurse (played to great effect by Kaitlyn Dever, is in fact the best or at least the most moving. I'm not going to say anything more. Just watch!

"Coastal Elites" premiered this weekend on HBO and is now available on HBO On Demand and other streaming services. If you are deeply troubled by life in the COVID-19 era and under the (so-called) leadership of Dear Leader Trump, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

The actors just keep on talking and talking. Nothing else happens. They seem to make a political statement, but I have no interest in it.

Long since done with the Austin Powers and Meet the Parents franchises, Jay Roach has spent the past twelve years directing political-themed movies: "Recount" (about the 2000 election), "Game Change" (about the 2008 election), "The Campaign" (depicting a heated campaign for a congressional seat), "Trumbo" (about the blacklisting of Dalton Trumbo), "All the Way" (about Lyndon Johnson's efforts to pass the Civil Rights Act) and "Bombshell" (about the women at Fox News who exposed Roger Ailes as a sexual predator). Now he gives us "Coastal Elites", in which five people give monologues describing their displeasure with the Trump presidency and the coronavirus.

Opinions of this movie will almost certainly be split along ideological lines. Personally I found Sarah Paulson's character's monologue the most impressive. The movie isn't any sort of masterpiece, but I enjoyed it.

Each of the five pieces is a tour de force. The writing and the acting are incredible and it all fits together powerfully in the end. I recommend viewers watch it in a quiet place where they can really pay attention and appreciate the performance. This isn't a show that will do well in a room of distractions.