sandrene

This show checks off all the boxes you need for a good drama. Within the first 3 minutes we're given characters with plot lines that have the potential to be really interesting for several episodes and even seasons. But then it all falls apart.

First is the messy and unbelievable dialogue. The first time we see all the friends together their conversation is riddled with exposition that sounds incredibly forced. I feel like the show runner (who is also the writer of most episodes) hasn't actually had a friendship like that. It's more in line with the shoddy dialogue written for a group of women.

And speaking of women, the female characters seem to all just be a vehicle to move the men's story along. And while I realize the show is about the four men and their friendship, you could remove most of the scenes with the main supporting women and still have the same show. Possibly better, since several of the storylines the women support are unnecessary moments of suspense. I get that this is a drama, but there's too much thrown in at the expense of the story, which makes it all lackluster all around.

I want to like the show, but seeing as how all but 1 episode so far is credited solely to the creator, I have my doubts it will improve. Strong actors can't fix a weak script. ABC would have been better off waiting to release this show until they had a strong writer's room, preferably with some diversity, since this desperately needs the input of different voices.

This film seems to suffer from an identity crisis. It attempts to tackle many underrepresented topics pertaining to the effect war has on veterans and their families, but it stretched itself too thin and each plot line ended up being a weak caricature of what they were trying to accomplish. With the exception of Bryan Cranston's character, Sal, and at times J. Quinton Johnston's character, Washington, all of the characters weren't very well fleshed out and none of them saw any change from the beginning of the film to the end. The dark subject matter was sprinkled with random bits of humor that, instead of lightening the tone, just felt awkward and out of place, while the story jumped around in so many places, it was hard to tell what it was really about.

There was a flier outside my screening that gave more information about the veteran issues that were highlighted in this film, which leads me to believe that it was made with a greater purpose than just to entertain. This made me even more disappointed in the fact that the writing and cinematography were often lazy, and the overall film felt like one done by an amateur filmmaker, not by a writer/director that's been around for decades. Although there are relatable moments in this film, I'm sure even more so for people who have experienced war, as a whole it is barely a step up from an over politicized after school special.