It's not that the leads acting skills were questionable. They were both fine. The problem is, when you have a movie that is TOTALLY character driven with almost no plot, you better nail the casting. I didn't dislike Haim or Hoffman, but couldn't give a rat's ass about them either. They didn't have nearly enough charm and chemistry to keep me interested in the plot points. Points that were invented just for them to do something - anything. It felt like the casting was done in search of social media buzz: "We've got a woman who's in a buzz band with her sisters, and the child of a beloved, late actor! Done and DONE!" Not that Paul Thomas Anderson helped them out with the lazy writing. A random episode of Axe Cop has more meaning than this film.
The casting of Bradley Cooper, Tom Waits, Sean Penn and other big names was wasted. It's a shame, because while they couldn't have *saved* the movie, if used better they could have kept me from checking the time every 15 minutes. By the way, WTF was the deal with Cooper's character? He existed just to be weird - not funny weird, just odd. His presence was annoying, frustrating and pointless. Penn's William Holden was the only one that really added anything.
The casting of Bradley Cooper, Tom Waits, Sean Penn and other big names was wasted. It's a shame, because while they couldn't have *saved* the movie, if used better they could have kept me from checking the time every 15 minutes. By the way, WTF was the deal with Cooper's character? He existed just to be weird - not funny weird, just odd. His presence was annoying, frustrating and pointless. Penn's William Holden was the only one that really added anything.
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