Review of Daydream Nation (2011) by Michael N — 16 May 2011
This is difficult. Even more difficult because I know Michael Goldbach can write a good film (Child Star). The cast in uniformly excellent. Even Andie MacDowell who actually starts acting NOT like Andie MacDowell at one point.
Music and soundtrack are great. And most notably, it's one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Will I watch it again? Definitely. But if I took out the film's style, I'd be left with a fucking disaster.
It reminded me a lot of The Chumscrubber, a horrible film that should have been amazing but it thought that all it needed to do was throw in every single "weird" teen angst cliche and mix it with some hip film of the moment (which was Donnie Darko).
Daydream Nation is not as bad as The Chumscrubber (not even close), but it does have a horrible script. It's not the dialogue that's bad (if anything, it's just stale), but the storytelling structure is annoying more than anything else and I wanted to mute Kat Dennings voiceover which kept distracting me from what was actually happening on the screen.
Just like the movie, I'm all over the place about this. I really liked it, maybe loved it, but I think it's really not good at the same time. I want it to be so much better. Just look at the pictures I posted! It deserves better.
This review of Daydream Nation (2011) was written by Michael N on 16 May 2011.
Daydream Nation has generally received mixed reviews.
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