Look, I’m not one to say that there’s a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to make a movie. But if you’re tackling the subject of depression through a premise that involves Mel Gibson being possessed by a sentient beaver puppet that compels the former to voice it in a cockney accent and turn his life around via that spectacle… well, it’s an uphill battle from there that director Jodie Foster (also playing Gibson’s wife) loses in making The Beaver a convincing exploration of its core themes.
But then, with Gibson in the starring role, the film is really about its lead actor. Opening with little context for his character’s depression, beyond an expository voiceover alluding to a job loss and midlife crisis, we’re asked to project our knowledge of its star – whose dirty laundry has been repeatedly hung up for the world to see – onto his vaguely-defined cipher role. Gibson’s performance itself is the finest he’s given in a while; the vulnerability he projects obviously comes from a deeply personal place, and it’s what almost holds this confused/confusing film together.
And yet, there’s something obnoxious about that in itself – The Beaver exists seemingly to convince the aghast public that Gibson is really a pretty complex dude, not to be judged for his publicized actions. Beyond that, it’s a tonal mess – playing like a maudlin remix of a hypothetical Adam Sandler comedy, with scenes like Gibson’s brawl with the titular puppet played for dramatic impact to unintentionally hilarious effect, and a cornball ending full of ‘seize the day’ platitudes attempting to give the illusion of normalcy to this bizarre curio. No such luck.
Wow, this guy actually erased my last negative comments about his review, which was atrociously written and poorly edited. What's the point of a comments section if it's censored, Ian Barr?
ReplyDeleteAnd I just looked at your twitter and you actually MISQUOTED a movie and then said it was the worst line of the year. But that's not even the line from the film! You are so bad at what you do! Please, for the sake of people that love movies, take the time to get things right.
ReplyDeleteJenny, I deleted your comment because I had no idea what you're talking about; aside from my questionable attempts at humour via run-on sentences there's nothing in the first paragraph that really warrants your ire. Also, these are my unedited reviews - I submit them to be edited for print in the Drum Media. I simply try and keep everything here for posterity, but I'll be less lazy in future so as not to disappoint my loyal followers such as yourself.
ReplyDeleteAs for the misquoting, you're right; I was trawling google for the exact quote but could only find that misquoting. Guilty as charged!
I'm not out to get you, sir. But you're a serious writer, and the "well, it's an uphill battle" sentence doesn't make sense, and in the last paragraph you have "with scenes like a Gibson's brawl" etc, and then you misquoted something on twitter (a piece of VO that actually seemed fine to me when watching the film and in tune with a teenage girl). Anyway, I usually like what you write which is why I'm being hard on you and hoping you'll kick it up a notch. ESPECIALLY when you're criticizing something...because that's when being accurate really counts. Cheers mate. I'll continue to read you.
ReplyDeleteNo hard feelings. I still think the 'uphill battle' part makes sense to me - Foster is faced with a tough task of making such a ridiculous premise work dramatically - but the second typo is the kind of thing I'm glad I have an editor for.
ReplyDeleteBut as you can see, I added this review (and 19 others) in one mechanical slog at the behest of a few readers, w/o bothering to re-read 'em.