Review of This Must Be the Place (2011) by Héliø L — 01 Jun 2015
I'm honestly not sure how much I liked this movie, if at all. Sean Penn, as an aging ex-hair metal rocker, is either unbelievably awful or totally brilliant, I can't tell. Part of the reason for that is that I'm not sure what his character is all about.
He's really creepy, but I think he's supposed to be endearing. The tone also seems totally confused; there are moments of (contrived) Diane Arbus-meets-Hal Ashby-style 'zaniness', and then there are moments of forced poignancy which don't really work since we don't understand the main character or what he's all about.
Also, the story takes a long while (as in forty whole minutes) to get started, and then it ends up kind of nowhere; there's supposed to be some kind of redemptive moment for Penn's character but I guess I missed it.
Judd Hirsch is really great in a thankless role, and Frances McDormand is fine as Penn's pot-smoking firefighter wife (no, I'm not kidding). This movie reminded me of Me and You and Everyone We Know, except I don't hate this one quite as much as I did that one.
It has good stuff in it, mostly having to do with the cinematography. But there are also goofy-looking misfits, an ex-Nazi living incognito, and David Byrne (who wrote the music) in a cameo appearance playing himself for no apparent reason.
I don't know, it didn't make much sense. And I found it too sluggish. So ultimately, I guess I don't like it much. It was compelling though, mostly because it's just so cough-syrupy-weird.
This review of This Must Be the Place (2011) was written by Héliø L on 01 Jun 2015.
This Must Be the Place has generally received positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
