For every one really good film I've seen this year, I feel like there are five "Causeways," films that come so close to being good but just miss.
"Causeway" never overcomes the taint of cliche that hovers over it. Two damaged people helping each other heal is a story we've seen play out a million times. The specifics are different, but the general idea is the same. This can make for compelling narrative, but that never happens here. This film is so determined to be serious, austere, and joyless, that nothing is able to get any air, and the whole thing drowns under the weight of its toneless drone.
Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry obviously are committed to the material, but they're let down. And what's most frustrating is that the film comes so close to being good. You can see that it had the raw materials to be so. But this is one of those movies that lost me mid-way and I spent more time looking at my phone than I did paying attention to it.
Grade: C.
"Causeway" never overcomes the taint of cliche that hovers over it. Two damaged people helping each other heal is a story we've seen play out a million times. The specifics are different, but the general idea is the same. This can make for compelling narrative, but that never happens here. This film is so determined to be serious, austere, and joyless, that nothing is able to get any air, and the whole thing drowns under the weight of its toneless drone.
Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry obviously are committed to the material, but they're let down. And what's most frustrating is that the film comes so close to being good. You can see that it had the raw materials to be so. But this is one of those movies that lost me mid-way and I spent more time looking at my phone than I did paying attention to it.
Grade: C.