There's no reason this had to be given the misogynistic treatment - it's a perfectly decent story, with some meaty twists and characterisation. It's simply that there are over a hundred little story and character choices where he seemed to take a creative position that bags women.
The woman who asks for a selfie with Ben Affleck (Kathleen Rose Perkins), Rosamund Pike's confident (Casey Wilson), the young college student (Emily Ratajowski), not one but two female current affair hostesses who pillor Affleck even before he's been charged (Missy Pyle, Sela Ward) (is this something people are allowed to do legally in the US? You're not in Australia), a cold bitch mother (Lisa Banes)... all of these, without exception, are caricatured, broadly devised and played. There's no reason they needed to have been - why couldn't the Wilson's character be a genuine person with a big heart instead of a moron who is mocked and does massive displays of emotion; Ratajowski has no depth, instead of being a three dimensional woman who is in over her head, she's another naive idiot who pouts and just wants to hump Affleck (in the living room of his sister's house... not even in a spare room).
It's like David Fincher thought, "well we have two really nice,
sympathetic female characters (detective Kim Dickens and Affleck's twin
sister Carrie Coon... both of whom, incidentally, dress in mannish clothes whereas the rest of the women are feminised - make of that what you will), so I can portray the rest as cartoons and/or
bitches".
Compare it to the male characters, who while they do bad things are always given humanity and sympathy: Affleck, who may cheat but is put upon and has a sister who adores him; David Clennon, as Pike's peace-keeping, loving father (he doesn't bag Affleck after it comes out Affleck cheated on Pike - all those moments are given to Banes); Neil Patrick Harris, who looks like his character is going to be kinky and weird (we never get to know his back story), but turns out to be another patsy; Scoot McNairy as a poor innocent victim of Pike; Patrick Fugit, who is anti-Affleck but is allowed to have a wife in his back story and a sense of humour; Tyler Perry's defender-of-wife-bashers attorney who is allowed to be smart as a whip.
Dramatically the motivations of Pike get all fuzzy. She's initially given this clear, understandable, basic motive - getting elaborate revenge on Affleck - but then the film complicates things by introducing the McNairy character and this back story where Pike took out elaborate not-well-motivated against him that has no real logic apart from "she's crazy and manipulative". I understood why Pike went against Affleck, but she goes to ridiculous lengths against McNairy; Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction always remained human; Pike does not here. In part it's also because of the limitations of the actress - Pike is simply unable to convey passion or complexity, all she can do is sociopathic. (I wish Reese Witherspoon, who produced, had played the role).
It's a shame because there is so much good stuff here - music, photography, some of the acting, the story. And it would have been a better movie with more humanity - the relationship between Pike and Affleck would have made more sense, and has more resonance. It could have been a story about two messed up people instead of what it is: a flawed man and his psycho wife. I also wish they'd done more the Neil Patrick Harris and Scoot McNairy characters - if only these had been more manipulative and/or interesting instead of simple victims.
Another more minor irritants - far too much of the dialogue has "writers disease" and is over quippy (I can predict the argument "they're writers!", but writers don't talk like this in dialogue with each other, only on the page). I also laughed at the end credits - all these specialist people working for Tyler Perry (he had his own hair, costume and make up person).
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