This movie was possibly the most bland and boring thing I've seen this year. The main reason for that is the marketing that sells this as a 'biting satire'. It's not that. There is no satire in this movie, other than one character writing a satirical novel. That does not make the movie satirical. At most this movie is a boring melodramatic family dramedy, with comedy that feels like it's written for my grandparents. And that's fine! But don't sell your movie as a satire when it's not.
I sincerely fail to understand why this movie is getting all the acclaim and praise that it's gotten. All of the white critics on Rotten Tomatoes are fucking fawning over this thing, praising it for being 'witty', 'cerebral', and 'sharp'. It is objectively not any of those things! The most that this movie has to say is "Wow! Black people are a diverse group of people and they deserve that representation on screen, not the racial stereotypes our media contains." And that's a very good message! I fullheartedly agree with that! But that is also not a 'witty', 'cerebral', or 'sharp' message! It's not presented in an interesting way, and the writer and director have absolutely nothing interesting to say about it. The most they do is say "Haha look! A black man is profiting off of a book with false racial stereotypes that he made, and white people love it! Isn't that funny?" And like yeah that's a bit funny, but it gets tiring and old when that is the only fucking thing said in the entire movie. It gets old.
And again, I wholeheartedly agree with this message. I think it's great! I think that this kind of representation on screen is great and we need more of it. I understand that this content wasn't meant for me, and that other people like it more than me. But you cannot praise a movie for 'destroying racial stereotypes in media' when it has absolutely not fucking done that! You cannot praise it for its commentary when its commentary consists of a single note played over and over the entire movie! The movie does what has already been done before. The drama is boring and slow. The acting is incredibly subdued and just... okay. The comedy is written by people in their 60's. And it has no substance, nothing for you to learn, nothing for you to come away from the movie changed and be like "Wow, that felt worth my time!"
The movie's a Hallmark movie, point blank. And to see it getting promoted as an 'Oscars dark horse' makes me fucking angry when there are so many more movies this year that are worth your time and that don't squander the millions of dollars put into them on something with no style, no substance, and no purpose.
If the trailer is more interesting than your movie, you have a problem.
Skip this, wait till it comes out on a streaming service and then watch it, if you can.
Review by Sam WightVIP 2BlockedParent2023-12-30T00:14:05Z
This movie was possibly the most bland and boring thing I've seen this year. The main reason for that is the marketing that sells this as a 'biting satire'. It's not that. There is no satire in this movie, other than one character writing a satirical novel. That does not make the movie satirical. At most this movie is a boring melodramatic family dramedy, with comedy that feels like it's written for my grandparents. And that's fine! But don't sell your movie as a satire when it's not.
I sincerely fail to understand why this movie is getting all the acclaim and praise that it's gotten. All of the white critics on Rotten Tomatoes are fucking fawning over this thing, praising it for being 'witty', 'cerebral', and 'sharp'. It is objectively not any of those things! The most that this movie has to say is "Wow! Black people are a diverse group of people and they deserve that representation on screen, not the racial stereotypes our media contains." And that's a very good message! I fullheartedly agree with that! But that is also not a 'witty', 'cerebral', or 'sharp' message! It's not presented in an interesting way, and the writer and director have absolutely nothing interesting to say about it. The most they do is say "Haha look! A black man is profiting off of a book with false racial stereotypes that he made, and white people love it! Isn't that funny?" And like yeah that's a bit funny, but it gets tiring and old when that is the only fucking thing said in the entire movie. It gets old.
And again, I wholeheartedly agree with this message. I think it's great! I think that this kind of representation on screen is great and we need more of it. I understand that this content wasn't meant for me, and that other people like it more than me. But you cannot praise a movie for 'destroying racial stereotypes in media' when it has absolutely not fucking done that! You cannot praise it for its commentary when its commentary consists of a single note played over and over the entire movie! The movie does what has already been done before. The drama is boring and slow. The acting is incredibly subdued and just... okay. The comedy is written by people in their 60's. And it has no substance, nothing for you to learn, nothing for you to come away from the movie changed and be like "Wow, that felt worth my time!"
The movie's a Hallmark movie, point blank. And to see it getting promoted as an 'Oscars dark horse' makes me fucking angry when there are so many more movies this year that are worth your time and that don't squander the millions of dollars put into them on something with no style, no substance, and no purpose.
If the trailer is more interesting than your movie, you have a problem.
Skip this, wait till it comes out on a streaming service and then watch it, if you can.