Weekend Watch - Amsterdam
Amsterdam’s strengths – strong acting, good comedy, a relevant message, and decently interesting piece of American history – fail to coalesce with its weaknesses – uneven pacing, odd writing, unnecessary rabbit trails, and a preachiness that comes close to putting Don’t Look Up to shame – and the film ends up being one big disappointment.
Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, the topic is David O. Russell’s historical whodunnit that had its wide theatrical release yesterday, Amsterdam. The film stars Christian Bale, John David Washington, and Margot Robbie as three friends in the 1930s who are framed for murder and in the process of clearing their names uncover a much larger plot involving the U.S. government (which did really happen). They are supported in the film by a wide cast of characters played by the likes of Robert De Niro, Anya Taylor Joy, Raimi Malek, Taylor Swift, Chris Rock, Zoe Saldana, Mike Myers, Timothy Oliphant, and Michael Shannon. Let’s get into it.
Letter Grade: D+, somewhere in here, there’s something good, but it’s hard to get at.
Should you Watch This Film? I have no reason to recommend you see this in theaters unless you’re incredibly bored, have money to blow, and have seen 70% of the other films currently showing in theaters. Once it’s streaming, maybe.
Why?
Amsterdam is a conglomeration of strong and weak pieces that somehow ends up weaker than any of the parts on their own. The film’s strengths – strong acting, good comedy, a relevant message, and decently interesting piece of American history – fail to coalesce with its weaknesses – uneven pacing, odd writing, unnecessary rabbit trails, and a preachiness that comes close to putting Don’t Look Up to shame – and the film ends up being one big disappointment, considering the general skill of director David O. Russell and the many actors involved in the film. The clunkiness of the script is almost overcome by Bale’s and Robbie’s skill at fully committing to whatever role they are asked to play, but even Washington’s cool factor cannot quite mask the awkward stringing-together of deep one liners that is this film’s script. (It often sounds like the Tumblr equivalent of the Star Wars Prequels with the amount of talking past each other that the characters are asked to do here.) The moments of comedy sprinkled through the film are its true highlights, as the actors and script break away from the usual awkwardness and allow the audience to embrace their funnier side. In particular, Anya Taylor Joy shines in a much lighter supporting role than I have yet seen her play, bringing some much-needed comic relief to the scenes she participates in. Ultimately, I think the film’s true failing lies in forgetting who its audience is. The take-home message of the film, while relevant, is very nearly force-fed to its audience in the third act. Though I agree with the statements about the corrupt nature of the moneyed elites and the dangers of using a demagogue to persuade patriotic, but easily manipulated, veterans to undermine the democratic processes of America (or any Western democracy), I feel like most people seeing this film share those sentiments and don’t need such a heavy-handed delivery as the filmmakers bring to this film’s message. Also, people who don’t agree and do see this film probably won’t change their minds because of the use of Nazis, which will cause them to miss the whole point. In the end, Amsterdam is a poorly crafted mix of good actors, decently funny moments, and a relevant message with weak scripting, pacing that doesn’t quite make sense, and a preachiness that only serves to frustrate rather than persuade its audience. Check it out if you want to, but don’t tell them I sent you.