Review of Getting Straight (1970) by Dave S — 13 Sep 2009

Dated in all the best ways, and demonstrates plenty of wit and style from the director, actors, and screenwriter. What eventually drags this down is the protagonist, the apathetic grad student who just wants to graduate rather than get involved in politics and is always armed with the proper caustic put-down or dramatic speech for any occasion.

The problem is that a character like this â?? the lone person who can magically see through the BS and inefficiency of everyone around him and will call anyone out on it â?? ends up feeling too much like an author construct if not outright surrogate.

Itâ??s too clearly about someone elseâ??s sour grapes rather than any kind of authenticity. And even when the film makes it clear that this guy isnâ??t supposed to be entirely sympathetic heâ??s still placed on this pedestal, the rebel role model, even as he turns out to be increasingly loathsome and the characters around him are more transparently set up to get him to his next cutting remark.

Of course, Gould still plays the hell out of it, despite a distractingly awful moustache, and of course thereâ??s some pleasure in hearing him shout lines like â??you have the loyalty of a snailâ??.

But the characterâ??s misogyny was the final straw for me rather than his general misanthropy, and I feel like others might not give him the benefit of the doubt as long as I did.