Review of Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019) by Leavemealone2 — 26 Jul 2019

I was very excited for this. The acting was superb as one would expect from DiCaprio and Pitt. That said . . . it meanders. It’s plodding and just doesn’t connect. I know why this got such great reviews - it’s an homage to a Hollywood that every film critic is aware of.

I like movies, but I have a life. I cannot and will not deep dive into decades old obscure films to justify liking this movie. I know Tarantino doesn’t care. That’s what he does. Some think Jackie Brown is his best movie.

I tried to watch it again (on Hulu currently) and couldn't finish it. Maybe the plot of an actor coming to terms with the end of his career connects with some people, but it didn’t with me. Maybe I’ve lost the zeitgeist.

When I was 13 and saw Reservoir Dogs it was different, bold. Then I found True Romance and then Pulp Fiction. Kill Bill. Django and even the Hateful Eight (not great but at least things kept moving). Inglorious Basterds was full of dialogue you couldn’t get from other movies.

Hollywood . . . was, I’m sorry, just boring. The twist at the end was basically Inglorious Basterds but worse. There is no examination of the era leading to the Manson family. Or, maybe there was and it was “subtext.

” I understand that Tarrantino sinks himself in the genre, but this genre went away for a reason: ITS NOT INTERESTING. It just didn’t say anything other than “I like old movies.” That’s great for the critics but not so much for everyone else.

I sat in a theater where people laughed at the heady moments and seemed bored at the rest. I would give this a 1 if it wasn’t for the brilliant acting throughout. This is my first and only review, that is how disappointed I was with this movie.