Jsv94

As far as miniseries go, it's a good enough show. The acting is solid, the cinematography is well executed, and the overall production value is great. My issues come down entirely to the plot. It just isn't exciting enough. There's no satisfying twist at the end. It feels like it's building toward one; the killer turning out to be the good guy, her hallucinating everything, him being innocent and her projecting, something along those lines. Instead, it ends in a very matter of fact way. It feels more like a complex British drama rather than an exciting, twisted narrative one would expect from an American show.

I didn't hate it, but it's not one I'll remember in a month.

Look... I know a lot of people will dislike the show simply because it features Kim K or has an all-female main cast. But that's not why this show is a trainwreck. From the very first minute, it feels like an SNL parody sketch; full of exaggerated tropes and overly dramatic acting that turns it into a comically bad soap opera. It reminded me of the beginning of The Barbie Movie before Barbie has her great epiphany and the pink cloud clears. I kept waiting for that moment here, but it never came. A real shame, because the cast is talented and experienced, yet every line, every bit of dialogue, every plot thread was just cringe, cringe, CRINGEEEE.

I generally pride myself on my ability to see the art and beauty in things that others miss but i just could not find it in The Substance. The entire production felt like a sunk cost fallacy, where the creators kept pushing forward with a concept that was not working instead of stepping back and fixing the issues. The premise is superficially interesting, but there just was not enough genuine 'substance' to hold it together.

I will say the acting was stellar and Moore deserves accolade for her part, but the insane amount of inconsistency coupled with the ridiculous ending just gave it an air of forced artistry. Is it art, is it drama, is it horror, there just was not a clear direction.

Want a movie about how inner worth matters more than outward image? Just watch Barbie. Or Mulan. Honestly, even Cats makes that point more coherently...CATS.