Review of Five Easy Pieces (1970) by Josh M — 14 Feb 2010

I feel a little guilty about not liking Five Easy Pieces more. Nine times out of ten, give me a 1970s character study and I'm enthralled, loving every slow, nuanced moment of it. Yet Five Easy Pieces did little except leave me bored and indifferent.

Don't get me wrong - I got what they were going for, the way the film creates this character study of a man whose main response to the world is to retreat from whatever he faces, be it talent, responsibility, true emotion, whatever.

And I don't deny that Nicholson plays the part brilliantly, letting the true man show through the cracks when he's desperate or alone. For all that, though, the film is a bit of a chore to sit through.

Nicholson's character is a blank slate by design, one who hides much of his true self, but there comes a point in any movie where we just need someone to do something...and he can't. Add to that his grating girlfriend and a lack of any real forward momentum and you have a film that ultimately just didn't work for me.

I understand why so many like it - I loved the final scene, for instance, and the monologue to his father - but overall I just found it lacking.