I've read great review after another for this film. I was very excited to get to watch it finally and I love Ethan Hawke & Patricia Arquette, so I fully expected to love it as well. It was an EPIC let down for me. At first it was so awful, I just wanted to stop the movie. The writing is uninteresting to say the least. But more than bad writing, the filming style or editing (not a film person so not sure which) was horrible! There are absolutely no indications or transitions between scenes - even ones that skip ahead many years. At 36 minutes into the movie, there was finally a scene that was watchable (without horrible child acting and constant screaming). It was a good scene but no better than any other movie with a decent scene. I kept watching to try and understand what the hype is all about but throughout it all, there was apx. 20 mins or so of decent watchable dialogue and acting. There were a couple of touching, father and son scenes - but again, no better than an average movie with the same type of scene (and likely better writing). The whole time you are watching it, you are thinking about the making of it, as opposed to getting into the movie. My conclusion: I think its one of those cool things some film maker tries that is new or different (filming it over the years with same actors as they grew up), so people rave on and on about it. But bottom line is that the writing and directing was extremely weak and most of the actors in it were weak as well. It was an interesting concept and storyline that was horribly executed
.and for 3 hours of it, ugh!
Review of Boyhood
