Turns out it was the latter...
Yep, it was quite a stinker. It's basically just a romcom... without the com. Not through lack of trying mind you. It tries so hard to be fun and funny, but outside of a couple of sporadic smiles and the occasional light-hearted 'hmph', it just fell completely flat for me.
The characters are so sickly sweet and the romance aspect just isn't engaging at all... and that's all you get for the first half of the film. It's well over an hour before the first taste of intrigue enters the picture, and even that sub-story feels predictable and undercooked.
This is likely due to the clichéd and contrived screenplay. Writer Drew Pierce (from whom I've enjoyed Mission Impossible Rogue Nation and Hotel Artemis) clearly loves movies and really wants you to know it, trying to take a meta approach and I do like the fact he shines a light on the stunt profession and BTS crew... but it all just feels superficial and shallow. He also loves to name-drop other (better) movies which came across a bit pretentious, and there's even an ongoing gag where one character tests Ryan Gosling's character by working in famous lines from other movies. This could have been fun if they weren't so obvious and overall seemed like a wasted gimmick. This is indicative of how the film plays out as a whole. There also a gimmick using the movie they're making as allegory for their relationship that is excruciating to endure, and the movie itself looks so incredibly trashy that it makes you want to root for its demise. I think it was trying to be satirical, but if so it wasn't carried through to the rest of the picture and just felt out of place.
I think it's wildly misdirected by David Leitch, who I typically enjoy, but here he just doesn't succeed in balancing the romance, comedy and action, and the resultant movie has a very weird tone throughout. There are some brief flashes of ok action, but usually felt sluggish and oftentimes a bit cartoony.
Overall, there I have very little praise for this movie and consider it a huge misfire, blurring the line between bad and just downright awful.
Note: the above review is my personal opinion and is not intended to be reflective or better than your own. For what its worth, I certainly seem to be in the minority on this one.
Yep, it was quite a stinker. It's basically just a romcom... without the com. Not through lack of trying mind you. It tries so hard to be fun and funny, but outside of a couple of sporadic smiles and the occasional light-hearted 'hmph', it just fell completely flat for me.
The characters are so sickly sweet and the romance aspect just isn't engaging at all... and that's all you get for the first half of the film. It's well over an hour before the first taste of intrigue enters the picture, and even that sub-story feels predictable and undercooked.
This is likely due to the clichéd and contrived screenplay. Writer Drew Pierce (from whom I've enjoyed Mission Impossible Rogue Nation and Hotel Artemis) clearly loves movies and really wants you to know it, trying to take a meta approach and I do like the fact he shines a light on the stunt profession and BTS crew... but it all just feels superficial and shallow. He also loves to name-drop other (better) movies which came across a bit pretentious, and there's even an ongoing gag where one character tests Ryan Gosling's character by working in famous lines from other movies. This could have been fun if they weren't so obvious and overall seemed like a wasted gimmick. This is indicative of how the film plays out as a whole. There also a gimmick using the movie they're making as allegory for their relationship that is excruciating to endure, and the movie itself looks so incredibly trashy that it makes you want to root for its demise. I think it was trying to be satirical, but if so it wasn't carried through to the rest of the picture and just felt out of place.
I think it's wildly misdirected by David Leitch, who I typically enjoy, but here he just doesn't succeed in balancing the romance, comedy and action, and the resultant movie has a very weird tone throughout. There are some brief flashes of ok action, but usually felt sluggish and oftentimes a bit cartoony.
Overall, there I have very little praise for this movie and consider it a huge misfire, blurring the line between bad and just downright awful.
Note: the above review is my personal opinion and is not intended to be reflective or better than your own. For what its worth, I certainly seem to be in the minority on this one.