crazelord

(It's actually more a 7/10 but I'm trying to help the rating skew).

This was clearly a passion project for Seth Rogan, as he plays both main characters and it's a very specific movie. It expects you to either have more intrinsic knowledge of Jewish and Orthodox Jewish concepts or watch with someone who does as the movie won't really explain things much.

For instance, the mourner's Kaddish is referenced a lot and a motif for the narrative. But if you don't know how Jewish prayer works this will be confusing to most viewers. Because of all this, it's not suprising that there are a lot of negative reviews. You either get the jokes and story or don't. I'm fairly certain Seth made this with a Jewish audience in mind.

Unlike something like Zohan which tries to be both Jew/Israeli specific whole engaging a wider audience. And I think American Pickle is a great watch for anyone who can get it. Made with a lot of heart and hilarious in some places. As well as satirizing modern culture (both ends of the ideological spectrum) while not being mean spirited.

The reason it's only a 7/10 to me is that even though I understood every reference and concept, the movie has flaws. There are some really interesting directions the movie takes just to suddenly drop it all to seemingly get to the end. It could have been more but it seems to be afraid to get too big with it's ideas.

As well the ending itself (and not to spoil anything) just kind of brushes things away with essentially "and they loved happily ever after". Movies can be too long these days but I think an extra 30-40 minutes could have been added to flesh things out a bit.

Otherwise it's a definite recommendation to anyone who I think would appreciate it.

Beau is Afraid is not a movie for everyone. And what I don't mean is that it's a pretensious artsy film that is boring. It is anything but boring. It is one of the most nerve wracking and shocking movies I've ever seen.

At any moment the scene can change to a completely in tone or style. It is an exercise in anxiety, guilt, trauma, fear, self determination set to a nightmare you can't escape.

It also has some of the most surprising reveals and turns, I promise you you will not predict anything that happens. It can be really disturbing at points as well (which is intentional).

I understand why this movie isn't for everyone. Imo it's similar to why US had mixed reviews. The movie is not going to give you all the answers you want nor make everything feel cohesive. It's not the point.

The point I believe are the feelings it involves and the metaphorical journey to hell Beau goes through. It is the most extreme and hyperbolic portrayal of self doubt and generational trauma you will get.

I personally believe it's excellent and one of the most unique films I've ever watched.

Look how every positive review starts with "love him or hate him" or "regardless what you think of" or some variation of that and the rest is how they have a newfound respect for him after seeing this. Same was plastered all over Reddit with suspiciously unliked comments and posts.

You're not going to learn anything new about someone who made his career off of vlogging about the dumb trash he does purely to make money off being famous and hated. His boxing is no different.

He isn't a "genius" marketer either like supposed "real" viewers of this doc contend he is. He's just too narcissistic to care if he's hated and lacks any kind of personal ethics. Doing everything to manipulate children into being his fans and spending their parent's cash.

Don't watch this or his boxing, you're just fueling the fire. And to anyone who lost access to Netflix due to their new password sharing rules, they did you a favor if this is the shlock they're creating.