Review of LBJ (2017) by Danny L — 05 Nov 2017

Had the misfortune of seeing an early screening of this cinematic disaster and was shocked how genuinely terrible it turned out to be. The main adjective that comes to mind is "corny," to the point that you would swear you are standing upon an Ohio farm rather than sitting inside a dark screening room.

In all my years of viewing films, I've never seen such glaring examples of bad makeup...unrealistic Southern accents....ludicrous dialogue...and pretentious pomposity. There is nothing worse than an arrogant film director who is convinced of a film's "importance" far before he's established even a minimum degree of realism or mere coherence.

It all adds up to a cinematic endurance test that had my wife and I incessantly glancing at our watches, wondering, "Has this exercise in masochism ended yet?" The most tragic aspect of "LBJ" is that it is overseen by an insufferably earnest albeit silly director who imagines himself to be a political intellectual of the highest degree, yet his juvenile insights into the political process seem influenced primarily by cartoons rather than any sense of reality.

The most nauseating deficiencies can be seen in his fatuous, inauthentic, portrayals of heartland residents...the kinds of caricatures that could only be imagined by a condescending and sheltered urbanite.

I would suggest that, in the future, he stick to less complex material so that he can better navigate the story that, in its current incarnation, is the very definition of lightweight cornball fluff.