Review of Get Low (2010) by Alan B — 14 Mar 2011

While I wasn't blown away by the extremely linear story, the performances and atmosphere which surrounded the story were all excellently crafted. Duvall plays an old hermit who is searching for forgiveness, and ultimately closure. It's a fantastic and mysterious performance which is really the best part about the film. He steals every scene he is in and actually kinda plays the man you would expect his character from "Apocalypse Now" to grow into. The story centers around him, but the other characters have entertaining roles as well. Bill Murray is fun to watch as usual, and the other actors give accurate portrayals of their characters.

Like I said before though, the plot is where this film falls apart. It is told in a completely linear fashion which usually means you need an exciting story, the problem is that this story is only exciting and intriguing in a handful of scenes. I feel as though I could have read a summary page and received the exact same experience as I did from watching the film. It really is unfortunate because it starts off strong but just goes downhill from there.

I do recommend seeing it because the performances are entertaining and the cinematography is well done, just don't expect a huge payoff to the rather dull plot.