Tusk Review
RYAN: This is a new genre-bending movie from writer/director Kevin Smith, whose movies haven’t before really dipped into the horror territory before this one and, boy! Is this one a horror indeed. It’s some kind of freakshow McCrayerstien horror kind of thing. I appreciate the spectacle of it all but really walked out so unfulfilled and disturbed that I can’t really say I find it pleasing.
CAROLINE: I can’t say I’m really that enthralled by the premise. It’s Justin Long who basically goes missing in Canada and then there seems to be some foul play, if I’m correct?
RYAN: You are and in the spirit of not doing spoilers let’s leave it at that but I will say that it’s really more of a Misery type of movie than anything else since then. It’s less of a probable scenario than Misery was, so it’s not as scary but it’s certainly as, or even more so, disturbing!
CAROLINE: I thought you kind of like that?
RYAN: I do when there’s really something that sticks with you or has some sort of theme or style that is very enthralling. And this movie starts out brilliantly in both technique and production, but then sort of devolves stylistically. The black and white flashbacks look very low budge. And it’s not as suspenseful as it really needs to be. Also – you don’t really feel much sympathy for Justin’s character because he’s such a clod of a guy.
CAROLINE: What about Haley Joel Osment, making a return to movies. Where has he been!
RYAN: Right?! He doesn’t have that big or important of a role. He’s decent but not great. He does a terrible fake laugh. It’s not supposed to be fake but whenever he was laughing, I wasn’t buying it. And he’s so thick!! He’s looking very bloated, like a little Zach Galifianakis or Jonah Hill.
CAROLINE: Oh no! What happened to him!
RYAN: He’s appears to have only done shorts and video game voiceover the last several years.
CAROLINE: Well he’s working.
RYAN: I really liked the scoring, especially at the beginning of the film. And the overall design is nice. It’s a well conceived film and well made. While I wasn’t bored, I wasn’t scared either. I think primarily because of both the casting and the acting of Justin Long but also because of the editing.
CAROLINE: Sounds like it has some good components.
RYAN: Johnny Depp is in it but so totally unrecognizable because of makeup that compromises some of his facial expression. He’s so desperate to play characters lately. I think he enjoys his roles more than the audience does, to be honest.
CAROLINE: Yeah he’s kinda jumped the shark as an actor. So it really didn’t scare you?
RYAN: No. It’s ending is so absurd that for me, it dissipates any real real or suspense.
CAROLINE: That would be a relief for me.
RYAN: This movie started with a title proclaiming to be based on actual events. It’s not true at all… it’s basically Kevin Smith was inspired by a random fake ad and let his imagination run with it. There’s really no criteria a movie needs to meet to proclaim it’s basis on actual events. There are a lot of creepy moments and some comedic. It tries to be black comedy but didn’t really work for me. It’s grossly disturbing but only mildly scary. It’s hard to watch at times because of the imagery.
