Review of Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019) by Goldfingerxl — 16 Sep 2019

A total disappointment for a QT fan...

The movie has a VERY thin plot. Margot's story arc (if you can call it that) didn't advance or contribute to the plot in any way and could easily be left out. The same goes for the most of Brad's, although his character has one or two scenes which contribute to the overal narrative. The most interesting was the story of the aging actor played by leo. In between you see a lot of filler material nodding to the hollywood of the 60's, which in of itself are setting the tone for the movie, but they happen way too often and are incredibly lengthy. I am talking about 10 - 15 minutes here.

Aside from Leo's character, none of the characters develop in any way. The actions taking place in their lives have no significant impact on them whatsoever. For example, Margot is just there to be pretty, parties in every scene and barely has 10 lines of text. Brad is just driving around in his car beating up people. He supposedly killed his wife and got away with it, but apart from a small flashback, where you don't even see the murder!, it is not explained how this has affected him. A huge missed opportunity in my opinion. It could have given his character way more depth. As stated above, the exception is leo and his portayal of Rick Dalton. Rick ´s undergoes some significant chances throughout the movie which affect his actions. The acting by Leo and Brad ist excellent, but these professionals alone can't save these poorly written characters. The dialogues are good as always, but it all seems so meaningless.

And so, the movie drags on and on for about 2 hours and 15 minutes until finally QT decides it is time for his signature filmmaking and storytelling. However! When things finally do get violent it feels extremely out of place considering the rest of the movie and the final scene with the three goons from the manson family is laughable and an extreme mess.

All in all it didn't like this movie and can't recommend it to anyone. While Leo and Brad's acting was very good, the weak character building and plot in combination with the overly long filler material made me want to leave halfway through. I somehow managed to stick around, but at the end of the movie I wish that I had not. It was a total waste of time and money.