MovieChat Forums > Absolutely Anything (2017) Discussion > If the aliens can give Simon Pegg the po...

If the aliens can give Simon Pegg the power to do anything...

posted 8 years ago by !!!deleted!!! (12526472)
3 replies | jump to latest

then I presume they also have the power to do absolutely anything. So why can't they fix the machine that goes wrong quicker (why don't they make a machine that can't go wrong in the first place?) and ultimately, why are they bothering to do anything they do in the movie when they could just make the whole universe exactly how they want it and not have to waste time bothering with what they view as inferior lower life-forms.

The eternal problems with wish-fulfillment movies (and time travel movies, and some other types of story based on an impossible premise) are that there are no stakes because the protagonists can always reverse or re-do anything that doesn't work, so the story kind of invalidates itself from the outset. Any kind of plot is intrinsically pointless.

So yes feel free to call me a kill-joy who is over-analysing something which is just meant to be a bit of fun etc etc but it deserves criticism because it was a pretty bad movie in all departments and a massive waste of potential given all the talent involved. Great shame. Writer/director Terry Jones is a lovely guy and obviously has a great legacy in the history of comedy, but he made a mistake on this one and the millions that were no doubt spent on it I think. Erik The Viking is much better.

[–] HowlingSnail 8 years ago

I thought it was a very good movie (I just re-watched it now for the first time since seeing it in the cinema) but I agree with your criticisms. It has the same problem as Bruce Almighty, where Neil could "clean everything up in 5 minutes if he wanted to" but doesn't. Neil's actually quite a clever guy right up until the plot demands he make simple errors like not wiping Catherine's memory of his gay affair with his brother Dennis (He clearly has no qualms about erasing her memory as he did it to her earlier) or freeing himself from Grant somehow when Grant raises his hand.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (12526472) 8 years ago

I did find a few scenes amusing. If there had been more of them I would have liked it a lot more, but the lack of proper laughs combined with dumb decisions and irksome/stupid scenes like all those with the Yank ex-boyfriend in, along with other short-falls like weak dialogue, all stacked up too much in the negative for me to be able to call this anywhere near a good movie.

[–] chilone (17913) 6 years ago

There was actually a movie that addressed all of your concerns. Unfortunately it was only 0.0032 seconds long.