MovieChat Forums > All Good Things (2010) Discussion > Wow this was bad

Wow this was bad

posted 14 years ago by pawnstar3
12 replies | jump to latest

I don't know where to begin with this- saw it on demand last night- was really looking forward to it since I'm a huge fan of Ryan Gosling- this movie starts off slow and then gets terrible about midway through- the performances were fine- but nothing seemed to flow in this movie- the screenplay was bad, the shifts in the story were bad- this guy goes from normal to nuts in a matter of minutes- when he was doing the drag with that old guy i suddenly started to realize how bad it was - i actually felt bad for the actors involved

[–] phoenixowsnthenight 14 years ago

It wasn't a bad film and David was mentally ill. Obviously you didn't catch that and need to be told outright what is wrong with him by some kind of a "doctor" character. You should read up on the real guy... the director did a fine job with the information that the general public, police, attorneys, ect. have on the case. There were no clear answers because there really are none. No one has ever been charged with anything.

[–] pawnstar3 14 years ago

At what point in my post do I say that I don't know he's mentally ill?- of course that's obvious- that doesn't make it a good movie- go learn some reading comprehension skills and then read my posts

[–] lmckean 14 years ago

I agree with phoenix and I think the point he was trying to make was just that the mental illness aspect should cover the swift changes in personality. I would venture to say that that is what the filmmaker was trying to do, so I don't see it as a flaw in the script or acting. I would assume you like movies that have storybook endings, nothing is left un-said or un-done, and everything is all wrapped up nice with a big bow by the end. This was not one of those movies.

[–] TheBeardedWonder 14 years ago

The OP wasn't saying they didn't believe the mood shifts, they said they weren't presented well from a story telling POV. Which I agree with. Even if the random shifts were really that quick, which they probably were, they weren't done well in the movie.

I buy the shifts, just not how they were presented. And this was a bad movie in general, I agree. The things happening were interesting, but they way the director did it was so amateur and bad. Slow without being purposeful and characters we couldn't care less about... pass on this if you have the option.

And why would you make that assumption from the OP's comments? Where did it even HINT at them needing a storybook ending? They didn't even mention the ending at all in their post. Funny how both replies made things up to make the OP look worse just because they didn't like the same movie...

"Did you mean for all those words to come out like that or did they just fall out randomly?"-H.H.

[–] cfinnerin 14 years ago

I agree with the OP and I also don't understand why people aren't allowed to have opinions. I really didn't like this movie and was so disappointed because I loved the actors. I wanted to like it but I didn't.

[–] jquick99 14 years ago

i too agree with the OP. film seemed long and boring. i couldn't finish it....and had zero desire to even fast forward to the end to see how it ends.

[–] noveltylibrary 13 years ago

oh so you hate true stories??
just kidding -- i can't believe this was a response to complaints about the film.

[–] JW-7 13 years ago

I'm in the middle on this. I love Gosling, and he has a very minimalistic style, so you have to bring a lot of thinking to a movie like this. For a movie about a nut case who likely murdered his wife, and did murder a stranger, after dressing in drag for G-d know how long, it was very low key. And that is very disconcerting, because it appears not only undramatic, but anti-dramatic. So my take is that it was interesting because of the quality of the acting, but flawed and exasperating because it took its sweet time and didn't give you answers to anything.

So, in other words, I hate true stories without doctors' diagnoses and a neatly packaged ending, preferably with text messages at the end telling you whether or not he did it and where all the characters are living now--the ones that are still alive,that is. If not, at least tell us where the body is buried.

[–] bellaalma 13 years ago

^^^^^ LOL @ your summary of your review!!! JW-7, OP and the others who agreed with the OP, I share your opinions about this film. I also share your bewilderment at how, once again, some posters on IMDB feel that if you critique a minimalist somewhat indie film, you have no film comprehension beyond The Fast and the Furious.

I thought this film was painfully slow. It dragged mercilessly. There were some good performances and interesting scenes, but it was a parataxis of scenes. They didn't flow together well. It seemed disjointed. Characters were underdeveloped. Questions were left unanswered. It was obvious that he had mental/emotional issues, but what were they? It is not too much to want some context for the mental illness. The friends said he was messed up a couple of times, but how? I'm all about subtlety in a film, but this was ridiculous.

The screenplay was poor. At one point, it seemed like two completely different films from the time his wife disappeared to when he moved to Texas. I agree that this is an interesting real story, but the screen adaptation was lacking. Additionally, though the story was interesting, I do not think it was fit for film. What was the narrative point? So the viewer saw some talented actors and heard some good 1970's music, but at the end of the day, the film was just empty.

[–] noveltylibrary 13 years ago

yes the screenwriting sucked. it seems like an interesting bunch of events, too bad a cohesive story couldn't be told.

[–] kronus_14 13 years ago

Agree completely with the op, the first half was good, but in the second half it just became an awful mess, disjointed and very unconvincing.

wit

[–] JW-7 13 years ago

"...in the second half it just became an awful mess, disjointed and very unconvincing."

Not that this was the greatest movie ever made, but it became disjointed and messy as the lead character descended into madness, and became disjointed and messy himself. He became weirder and weirder, to be sure, and I felt the movie did a good job of showing that. What is disconcerting are the very strong hints that he killed Kate, while leaving it an open question. Those who like neat endings were put off by that and it was the final mess that was very frustrating. Had they shown the smoking gun and he was convicted of something, it would have been much more satisfying. But the filmmakers did a good job of creating an eerie, black, sick mood.