"Pale Blue Dot"
The Hype
I found out about this little film, as a captive viewer awaiting the start of another movie, and too a point I was defiantly interested. The trailer had primed me for a tense and unforgiving drama, that may show you a few things you don't want to see. With all the action, superhero and high stakes films flooding the market, sometime sit's nice to see a movie about people, and the problems in their ordinary lives. It's also a plus seeing Adam Sandler take on a serious role after his disgraceful outing in "Blended".
The Review
First we get what seems like it's gonna be another cliche compilation of today largely anti-soical communication system, but what we get is the story of the voyager satellite. Pareling the main events at first seem like an extremely cool concept. Unfortunately, overall it felt a bit out of place. it did help portray the movies angle contrasting these pivotl and life changing moments our characters go through to how insignificant our "pale blue dot" is considering the grand scale of the universe.
Once we get to our main cast we get a narration, which was strange, but the brutally plain and honest monotone narration of things like pornography and masturbation was, at first (though not laugh out loud) hilarious. Then this narrator becomes very inconsistent and is not part of the movie for such long periods of time that when it does happen it's almost jarring. Before I get into the films main flaws It did do a lot of things well. It perfectly captures the current time period and the changing ways of human interaction. The editing is a standout and i really loved how they showed the characters interaction with the technology around them. The Sound design also caught be off guard, and it really helps with the immersion, you can hear chatter in a crowded office and even the subtle humming of a computer fan.
The performances are superb all around, there are a few exceptions (see below). There wasn't much required of Sandler but what he did get to do was outstanding. There we're moments when I truly saw his character and not him. This is the first time im seeing Dean Norris outside of Breaking Bad, I'm so pleased to see he can handle a big movie like this and I know he has huge potential on the big screen. Kaitlyn Dever was also refreshing and I can see her finding a place as a Ellen Page type. Then we have Jennifer Garner, I know for a fact her performance was amazing because I hated her character so much I almost didn't want to compliment it.
The intertwining of these characters is extremely well done in the first act, and there are a few brillant moments of tying them together throughout, but the gaps between seeing certain characters gets longer and the pacing really falls apart by the end. Some stories are weaker than others and the highlight is really Tim and Brandy's love story, which I feel them and their families could have made a great movie on their own. In fact maybe they should have as this one becomes way too repetitive and too long for it's own good.
So here's where the entire thing falls apart [Minor Spoilers follow] around two thirds of the way through Blank (blank) signs up for Ashley Madison, a site for married persons to commit adultery together, so at this point i'm really loving the film and rooting for it to hold it together and delivery the whole package. So Sandler's wife goes to meet her "Secretluvur" and.. IT'S THE FUCKING ALL STATE GUY. (if you don't know what i'm talking about, stop reading and watch the video below) Yes the that fucking all state guy, So i immediately go from hanging by a moment completely invested in these characters and their struggles to violently being reminded i'm sitting in a shitty movie theater watching a studio production. I'd really like to see what drugs the casting director were taking and presumable sharing with the actual director when the forgot about the concept of immersion. When, and i refuse to give him a name because he is the All State guy, delivers the line "This what you want baby?" I starting laughing uncontrollably, earning some dirty looks from my fellow patrons. All this while a world class actor like JK Simmons has about 30 seconds of screen time.
In the third act, rather then getting unique struggles and outcomes from our characters the moto is "everything bad happens to everyone". What follows is an assault of worst case scenario events, just because. The movies tries to rectify this by the end of the film but the end doesn't feel like an sort of resolution but just another event in the movie we never see the big confrontation between BLANK and her controlling mother, Blank never accepts that his son doesn't like football, the broken marriage, the chronic masturbaiter and the anorexic get no progress. This could have been an hour shorter or longer and had the same amount of closure.
The Verdict
A messy movie with little direction or point, deep undercover as a meaningful film
6.9/10