Review of American Pastoral (2016) by Susan R — 13 Oct 2016

Holy moly, that was a nightmare. Just about nothing worked. There was no character development, the plot was unfocused and sloppy, the editing was poorly done, and the acting was questionable. Dakota Fanning was unbearable in the role of the radical Merry.

Its lack of any basic filmmaking qualities made it genuinely uncomfortable to watch, and not in a good way. Its biggest sin was the fact that it was so pretentious in its storytelling. Maybe the book is like that, I'll never know.

But I could not stand this movie. I have so many more complaints about this thing, but I'll stop a little short for the sake of my sanity. Ewan McGregor, you belong in front of the camera always. Never go behind the camera again, that is not your field.