SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

sbsieber What a strangely empty, self-indulgent and ultimately meaningless movie this is. What poor use of a reliable cast. Bening is wasted in the role of a middle-aged, single mother of a teen son. Her strength is in her ability to use words - to speak; her voice. She has been given so little to say here; the script is almost non existent beyond the basics required to drive one pointless scene to the next. In the moments where there might be a confrontation of some sort, she chokes - stuttering and spluttering in frustration because she has nothing to say. This is so frustrating. This is an actress who needs words. Yes, she has an interesting face and is very emotive facially and physically, but it is her voice we want to hear.Other actors are similarly wasted or misused. Billy Crudup who was wonderful in Rudderless (highly recommended) is reduced to nothing more than a quasi-romantic, handyman whose function is as a foil for the female actors and to spout occasional New Age nonsense. Greta Gerwig, another interesting actor is strangely muzzled in her role, and Elle Fanning is totally miscast as an angry, vulnerable teen who uses sexual promiscuity to act out against her therapist mother who appears to have no idea what is going on in her daughter's life. She is an actor I really don't get; she has the ability to seem vacant, and empty, and she strangles the life out of every line, using the wrong emphasis on words so that just about everything she says loses all meaning and becomes a monotone. I do not understand her appeal. The actor who played the boy was adequate.The story - plot - whatever is beside the point in this movie. It is more a string of lightly connected reminiscences from a young man's perspective. It starts nowhere and that's about where it ends up. We do get an idea as to the trajectory of these people's lives, and that is interesting. It is a slice of life from a specific point in time. It is interesting to see the fashions and other accouterments of that period in history - I did like that.On a final note - did this kid ever go to school?

christianpowell-993-688655 It took the incredible skill and talent of an amazing cast (especially Annette Bening) to keep this otherwise disastrously weak script from entirely falling apart. The film attempts to do a character study, but fails to commit to any one character enough to be well understood or relatable. Invoking next to no emotion from the viewer, I have left the film feeling neither sad or elated, as if I have spent the last 2 hours doing nothing. Perhaps I am being unfair...as an otherwise non- critical viewer, I have strong emotions about leaving a film without something. Was that the mission?!5/10 stars, all 5 for a cast that worked with nothing and still managed to come up with something.

SnoopyStyle It's 1979 Santa Barbara, California. Dorothea Fields (Annette Bening) is a progressive divorcée raising her fifteen year old son Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann). They have taken in two boarders. Abbie Porter (Greta Gerwig) is a photographer getting treated for cervical cancer and William (Billy Crudup) is a handyman who is refurbishing the house. Julie (Elle Fanning) is Jamie's best friend but she insists on being just friends.This is a cross between 'Dazed and Confused' and 'Koyaanisqatsi'. It starts slowly. There isn't much of a plot to drive the film. The five main characters is played brilliantly by these compelling actors. Bening gets most of the acclaim but everybody deserves some praise. The kid is solid. Gerwig and Crudup do their usual good work. Fanning is stretching out into a more adult role. Writer/director Mike Mills is building a nice resume. The movie slowly builds into a sad, poignant life story. One does feel like Dorothea as the only one who finds the beauty in Jimmy Carter's 'Crisis of Confidence' speech. I suggest sticking with it and get to know these characters.

evanston_dad An ode to women and the chaos they inspire in the world of a fatherless teenage boy."20th Century Women" has a laid back vibe and lots of period detail that will probably appeal to the audience members who were themselves coming of age in the period -- late 70s and early 80s -- in which the movie is set. It follows three principal female characters and charts the influence they have on our teenage protagonist. Annette Bening is the freewheeling mom, doing the best she can without someone to provide a positive male influence for her son. Greta Gerwig is the boarder who teaches him about girls and music. And Elle Fanning is his female friend who refuses to be his girlfriend. The conclusion he and the movie comes to seems to be that women are necessary but confusing. I found myself irritated by all of them. They spend all of their time trying to teach him what and how to think without ever letting him develop an identity of his own.The film is entertaining enough, but there is something lacking, and I'm not surprised that it wasn't one of the stand out movies of the year. I love Bening and would watch her in anything, and she does as much as she probably can with her character, but one can't help but wonder how much better a performance she could have given with better writing and directing at her back.Grade: B