I actually felt empathy for the "villain" here . . .
I may be a bit of an outlier here, but I actually felt empathy for the "villain" . . .
No spoilers, of course, but the general gist is that a guy (Russell Crowe) is going through the worst of the worst imaginable life crisis debacles, only to have the rather unfortunate dilemma of encountering an absurdly clueless, "I'm the center of the universe" self absorbed woman (with her son, who is vastly more mature than she could ever comprehend), who could have very easily toned down a momentary traffic confrontation, but instead decided to leap into neurotic overdrive and amplify the situation into lunatic fringe crisis mode.
And of course, she is completely devoid of any comprehension that much of this was her own doing, but fortunately for her, her son is remarkably grounded and has a much better sense of what's going on.
Yes, of course, Russell's character does indeed go way off into lunatic fringe territory, but not entirely without reason. As some have noted here, shades of "Falling Down" does come to mind, but the film has more than its share of ubniqueness to pull it off and then some.
No, this isn't "Gone With the Wind" or anything, but as an entertaining production that does pull you into its world, it's definitely effective. As a sort of social commentary on the fragility of civilization under duress, amplified by the unique characteristics (and populations) of current times, it does offer a bit of a glimpse into this troubled social petri dish.
Some may pontificate that the premise of this film was absurdly unrealistic . . . Well, maybe not so fast, might want to reconsider that perspective just a bit.
No spoilers, of course, but the general gist is that a guy (Russell Crowe) is going through the worst of the worst imaginable life crisis debacles, only to have the rather unfortunate dilemma of encountering an absurdly clueless, "I'm the center of the universe" self absorbed woman (with her son, who is vastly more mature than she could ever comprehend), who could have very easily toned down a momentary traffic confrontation, but instead decided to leap into neurotic overdrive and amplify the situation into lunatic fringe crisis mode.
And of course, she is completely devoid of any comprehension that much of this was her own doing, but fortunately for her, her son is remarkably grounded and has a much better sense of what's going on.
Yes, of course, Russell's character does indeed go way off into lunatic fringe territory, but not entirely without reason. As some have noted here, shades of "Falling Down" does come to mind, but the film has more than its share of ubniqueness to pull it off and then some.
No, this isn't "Gone With the Wind" or anything, but as an entertaining production that does pull you into its world, it's definitely effective. As a sort of social commentary on the fragility of civilization under duress, amplified by the unique characteristics (and populations) of current times, it does offer a bit of a glimpse into this troubled social petri dish.
Some may pontificate that the premise of this film was absurdly unrealistic . . . Well, maybe not so fast, might want to reconsider that perspective just a bit.
- charles000
- May 5, 2024