A sauced-up drunk bum, keeps everybody in the 25 population of an old English village, well.. sauced up, and on his own expense! (Though no explanation is given why he has endless funds, or why he is the bum of the village) Enter the completely brainless American (supposed intellectual played by Hofmann), who is married to the even more mindless Britt hottie, with the intellect of a 9 year old, whom everybody in the village where she originates from, pervs on her on a permanent basis (maybe because she is the only female in this village). No explanation is given why they got married, because it seems that they have only just met, and now they have moved to the dregs of nowhere in England to begin their immature and mundane lives together. And so begins the meek plot of these preposterously dim individuals meandering into complete boring oblivion.
After trudging along for an hour, the feeble plot starts to show its bland face. For a while you think that this cannot be based on rational thinking human beings. But then it hits you like a clammy sack in the face: they really are telling the story this way! Nothing happens for most of the movie, the couple are attacked by the drunken village morons, and the movie ends.
The stupidity of the characters never seize to amaze: Whilst the house is under siege by numerous armed men, braking windows and firing gun shots, the main character says to his wife: "Honey, you go to bed :), I'll tell them to go away.."
The acting is not at all bad actually. There is also lots of excellent editing to convey the awfully stark point.. And that's why this movie gets a 3. Mostly it was disappointing because the characters are supremely stupid in everything they do (the main character is a mathematician with a grant!). This movie is highly acclaimed by many, and you would think there must be some reason why people think so, but there is not. Perhaps because of the violence and subject matter for the time, but that does not make it a good movie. It falls flat on all levels from the start, and as soon as you hope it will gain momentum and become something, it slips and falls flat, face first again... and by then you don't want to make the effort to lower your intelligence to really try and understand this ca-ca called Straw Dogs.
After trudging along for an hour, the feeble plot starts to show its bland face. For a while you think that this cannot be based on rational thinking human beings. But then it hits you like a clammy sack in the face: they really are telling the story this way! Nothing happens for most of the movie, the couple are attacked by the drunken village morons, and the movie ends.
The stupidity of the characters never seize to amaze: Whilst the house is under siege by numerous armed men, braking windows and firing gun shots, the main character says to his wife: "Honey, you go to bed :), I'll tell them to go away.."
The acting is not at all bad actually. There is also lots of excellent editing to convey the awfully stark point.. And that's why this movie gets a 3. Mostly it was disappointing because the characters are supremely stupid in everything they do (the main character is a mathematician with a grant!). This movie is highly acclaimed by many, and you would think there must be some reason why people think so, but there is not. Perhaps because of the violence and subject matter for the time, but that does not make it a good movie. It falls flat on all levels from the start, and as soon as you hope it will gain momentum and become something, it slips and falls flat, face first again... and by then you don't want to make the effort to lower your intelligence to really try and understand this ca-ca called Straw Dogs.