Wrong Again!

Movie critics.   Many of us depend upon them to ferret out what to see and what not to see.

It cuts both ways.   You will remember my past review of "Hello, My Name is Doris."  Very positively received by film critics.  Yet, indeed, one of the worst movies I have ever seen.

Okay, then I recently reviewed "Everybody Wants Some!"  I went to see it mainly because the notices were superlative.   And I thought it was one of the best pictures of the year thus far.

You never know.   But, if I went back over time and did an informal survey, I would say that good film reviews are reliable perhaps 10 percent of the time.

Which leads me to the thing above.  "The Meddler."   My word, the great reviews are already listed in the poster.   You would think that this one has got a chance.

Um, no.

On all accounts, "The Meddler" is pretty much the same movie as "Hello, My Name is Doris."   Focusing on an older lady with mental issues that is played completely for laughs.   A misguided mess that hits every wrong note not once, not twice, but repeatedly.   Eventually you would think that if you keep hitting yourself in the head with a mallet, you'd lose consciousness.   Not this movie.   It just keeps on going down the wrong road until not even the Waze app could help you find your way out.

Susan Sarandon, who's completely looney tunes in real life anyway, plays a recently widowed pest who moves to Los Angeles to be near her screenwriting daughter.  And she takes over her life and the lives of most of her friends.

That's it for a plot.   I think the filmmakers want you to like Sarandon's character.   Trust me, it's impossible.  And then, if you consider that you're supposed to side with the daughter and feel her pain, well, guess again.   That character is so badly written that you hate her, too.    Indeed, the whole one in the cast you can warm up to is a cop played by J.K. Simmons.   If you blink...or more likely doze...you will miss his performance completely.  There are so many mistakes made in this film that you assume it was directed by the same people who managed Jeb Bush's Presidential campaign.

So you see this automobile wreck and you go back and read the reviews.   And you are astounded one more time.   How could they get it so wrong?

Back in the day, when Siskel and Ebert used to have a weekly show, you could really depend on their film critiques to be fair and reasonable.   Personally, Gene and I were usually on the same page.   But, sadly, both are now dead and so apparently is the art of getting a film review right.

"The Meddler."   Don't believe a thing that you've read.   It sucks.

And that's as succinct a review as I can muster up.

LEN'S RATING:  One-half star.

Dinner last night:  Chinese beef and vegetables.