Boyhood Review

RYAN: This is the super-buzzworthy movie from writer/director Richard Linklater, who really did accomplish something groundbreaking in completing this project.

CAROLINE: Yes this is the long term movie project he filmed over 12 years.  I was interested in seeing it.  What did you think of it?

RYAN: I didn’t like it.  It’s an impressive achievement in film, but the process aside, it’s simply not a great movie.  I was bored.

CAROLINE: Really?! Critics seem to be loving it.  It’s getting other good reviews.

RYAN: I know and I certainly respect everyone’s right to his or her own opinion.  As for mine, this movie is just “meh.”  When you set aside the fact he did something that no one has ever done before – working with the same cast over a 12 year period, you have to just look at the story, the script.  And they didn’t really have much of a script.  They all just revisited one another and checked in once a year for over a decade.  You can tell there’s not a basis here.  It’s slow and add to this it’s almost a full three hours long, it’s the kiss of death.  I felt like I was watching paint dry for much of it.

CAROLINE: That sounds awful.  I hate long movies, especially when they’re slow.  No movie really has any business being three hours long, unless you’re Titanic or Gone with the Wind, but even then, most audiences are over it.

RYAN: The movie centers around some themes like family relationships, how kids are affected by divorce, coming of age and the like, but none of the scene del cinematic.  It’s like you’re watching something unfold, or grow, literally… that’s not very interesting.  I didn’t really care about them.  Ethan Hawke, a frequent collaborator with Linklater, plays the dad and I like him and I also like Patricia Arquette as the mom.  Linklater’s own daughter plays their kid in film alongside Ellar Coltrane as the boy.  It’s cool seeing these kids grow up.  They get taller, their tastes change, and the hairstyles of the whole cast continue to change but visuals aside, it didn’t touch me.

CAROLINE: Wa there anything in it that your particularly liked?

RYAN: Not really.  The third act becomes mildly more dramatic.  And there’s one scene with Patricia Arquette that’s a highlight but when it’s just five minutes out of three hours, that’s not much to go on, you know?

CAROLINE: Totally.

RYAN: It does speak to the long term effects of life decisions, different parenting styles, but the whole thing is just kinda chill.  It’s natural and charming at times, but just chill.  It’s always moving forward but nothing really happens so I found it, largely, a waste of time.

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