Review of Being Flynn (2012) by Jdicksteihn — 14 Apr 2012

Every movie I watch Paul Dano in reinforces what an amazing director Paul Thomas Anderson is. That he was able to get a dynamic performance out of Dano in There Will Be Blood is a miraculous feat when you consider Dano's other work.

Being Flynn is case in point. Dano plays the character with a grim seriousness that doesn't help the already melancholy tone of this movie. A role that should have many levels, and be played with some irony to counterbalance the darkness, is instead played with a one-note monotonous sadness.

The end result is a character who feels way more sorry for himself than we do, and a story with a big hole where its male lead should be. Robert De Niro is heroic enough to overplay his role, to make up for the void at the center of the picture, and give us some entertainment value.

But the end effect for him is that he appears to many critics as conspicuous and flashy. The real culprit is Dano, who doesn't crack a smile for the entirety of the film and who ensures that we don't either.