Apologies in advance, because I know this will only serve to raise expectations to an unreasonable high, and all but force people to complain that I overhyped, but I can't help it...
Because this movie is soooooooooo damn good.
Just so incredibly funny, well-written, and shockingly poignant.
Taika Waititi is a mad genius, and IMO, this is his best yet. In fact, this is top three of the year for me so far, up there with
Endgame and
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (but just behind both).
The performances across the board are incredible, and so incredibly funny. Everyone is saying Scarlett Johansson is going to land a Best Actress nomination for
Marriage Story, but I'd give her a Best Supporting Actress nomination for this as well, no question. She's the beating heart of this movie and could not be any more charming or affecting. Rockwell of course kills it as well, as does Thomasin McKenzie, who is really starting to make a name for herself. Roman Griffin Davis too is so perfect as Jojo, while his best friend, Yorki, played by Archie Yates, had me cracking up every single time he appeared. Funniest kid I've seen on screen in years.
Really, I just can't gush about this movie enough.
I will say that it gets a
little slow toward the middle, and you're left wondering where, exactly, it's going, but then picks right up with a glorious Stephen Merchant sequence and doesn't let up from there. By the end, you've felt every possible emotion, and I could not have been more satisfied when it finally cut to black, a massive grin on my face. When the lights came up, a friend sitting next to me immediately leaned over and said, "That was amazing," while we heard a woman in front of us on the way out effusively proclaiming to the group she was with that it was the best of the year. This was after a big round applause at the end, which followed a rare in-movie round of applause in the third act.
I seriously cannot wait until more of you see this, and I'll almost assuredly see it again myself in theaters. I want to drag everyone I know to this, and in that spirit, be sure and see it with the biggest audience you can.
It's a huge crowd pleaser.
Here's the rollout...