Review of Boyhood (2014) by Tyler H — 17 Oct 2017

I wanted to love this movie. I was ready to. It's #13 on Cinefix's Top 50 Movies of All Time. It's been called a masterpiece. But if I'm being honest, the movie wasn't bad, but, for me, it wasn't great.

Of course one of the highest points is the technical achievement of this 12-year project, and that certainly is captivating in and of itself. It's just too bad that after all that work I found myself strangely unattached to it all; especially to our protagonist.

The older he got, the less I liked him or felt close to him. Which sounds kind of savage for me to say, but truly, I didn't find him to be a particularly enthralling protagonist. Notice, I didn't say likable, I said enthralling.

I'm not saying one has to like a protagonist for a movie to be good. Unfortunately I neither liked nor was drawn to this character. If I would've connected with him or the movie more, things might've been different, but really, I spent a lot of the movie (him from age 15 onward) growing more and more distant from him.

This kid's approach to life doesn't feel profound but honestly more precocious than anything else. And I'm not some stuffy, older conservative saying this. I'm a white, male, millennial, 20-something who adores art.

I should've connected with this kid on some level. But I didn't. I felt like he was a real underachiever. He's not motivated by much of anything, and he's just kind of angsty and moody all throughout.

The other big issue I have with this movie is the mom. I don't know how Patricia Arquette won an Oscar for this movie, and I'm a Patricia Arquette fan! Her performance is so one-note it's not even funny.

She does the same things and acts the same way in every scene. I really felt like she was just showing emotion and not really inhabiting this role. The final scene between her and our protagonist should've been very emotional but was surprisingly bland.

And our protagonist's reaction (or lack thereof) doesn't help. Now I'm not saying this movie's horrible. There is some good drama here. Ethan Hawke is certainly the highlight of this whole thing.

I felt his performance to be very genuine, and frankly, his character was the most engaging, and deeper than the rest. His arc was the most rewarding for me, and I found myself relishing the moments with him.

The resulting story doesn't get us much of anywhere though, nor leave us with anymore insight on anything, really, which is a serious bummer because that end scene is trying hard to do that for us.

The last line of this movie didn't mean anything for me, which is especially sad because it was set up to do so. Richard Linklater is still a great director in my opinion, and this certainly is a great technical achievement, which is why I wanted to like it so much, but mercy if I just couldn't get emotionally involved.