Special guest reviewer Dr. Matthew Feltman:
The nods to cinema history—why else include those moving locomotive inserts?— feel forced (and ultimately add nothing), the dialogue comes across as fake due to the film’s tonal/genre shifts, and the formal excesses could have worked in a more capable adaptation but seem superfluous in this garbage heap of a film that should have kept its focus on death and ennui instead of taking a golf club to DeLillo’s novel in order to provide a more upbeat, Hollywood ending; this film feels as vapid and vacuous as each plastic bag flung up into the air during the last few seconds of the closing credits. ⏰
Steph:
I haven’t read the novel and can’t comment on whether the film stays true to it, but I loved how offbeat this was, how challenging and funny and dark, as well as the way it deals with big themes like mortality and love and how the film critiques academia, religion, and even Big Pharma, which made it feel ambitious and artful and, at times, just a tiny bit pretentious. ⏰⏰⏰⏰
Josh:
I remember loving the book (but I was so young, and maybe it just made me feel smart) but anyway after this and Babylon, I would like the next movie I see by a filmmaker I like to feel more assured and not like it’s trying so hard, and maybe just be a normal movie that I can enjoy even if I don’t get the reference (which I did btw I’m very smart). ⏰⏰⏰⏰
The Bare Minimum 