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The Messenger
WHY'D I WATCH IT?
This movie had the bare minimum of what I expected from it, but it did not capitalize on it's premise in any way I appreciated.
Early on I missed some dialog establishing that Main Guy's girlfriend is marrying someone else and he's low-key upset about it, this is for some reason supposed to establish his headspace as he gets reassigned to become a "casuality notifier", informing the next-of-kin that their spouse or family member has died.
As expected, the movie takes the opportunity to portray a variety of situations that could plausibly develop from this scenario, which I was looking forward to, but unfortunately I was never emotionally invested in what happened.
Part of the problem here is that I'm experiencing this through the perspective of Main Guy as he develops a work relationship with Woody Harrelson, but I don't even like Main Guy or Woody Harrelson. Woody's character acts bipolar where in one scene he's the by-the-book straightedge guy who's seen too many broken hearts that he's become cold to his job. But then in the next scene he's drinking his ass off and porking a prostitute. What does this add to the movie? What does this add to his character? How does this endear me to when he puts on a straight face and delivers soul-crushing news to the next random person who's family member was killed in [insert current pointless war here].
Main Guy's even worse, he's got a case of the "Vindictive Ex", and his character is seemingly split too thin across all of 4 competing subplots, where in one he's the former soldier trying to clamp down on his grief for being inadvertently responsible for the death of a comrade, he's the ex-boyfriend to a girl who's giving him the cold shoulder and he's really broken up about it, he's the new "casuality notifier" to work with Woody and he's simultaneously learning to do the job and maintain a healthy work relationship with his pseudo-boss, AND he's the creepy stalker of one of the only person he ever "notified" and is trying to jump in her pants, true Overnight Romance style.
And that last subplot dominates a good chunk of the movie. It's SOOO hard to watch. The last third of the movie doesn't even really feature them delivering "casualty notifications" (I keep putting that it quotes because it's the dumb term they keep using) and instead just becomes really cringey, with them crashing Main Guy's ex's wedding, randomly showing up to Widow Mom's home uninvited, and getting into fights with jet skiers.
I wouldn't think a movie about telling family members their son or husband died would have this much sex, but it does and it seems incredibly tasteless.
Woody's reveal that he's never seen combat doesn't add anything to his character, Main Guy's reveal that he inadvertently killed a friendly doesn't add anything to his character, explaining how he almost killed himself doesn't add anything to his character. It's just exposition. They drink, they laugh, they scream, they cry, and I'm just bored.
Main Guy falling for one of the woman he's "notified" shouldn't have even been part of the movie, it's just a massive distraction to what could already make an engaging and emotional journey for a character experiencing other's grief by proxy. Like this is such a great concept for a movie and it feels so wasted because they tried to cram in so much stupid shit.
Like I can imagine a version of this movie without the prostitutes, without the estranged ex, without creepy stalker vibes, where this guy's just such a hardass from field duty, that he's reassigned and forced to take another look at the whole picture. Someone dies in war and they're glorified as a hero, but at home people aren't so fond of their friends and family getting chewed up and spit out by the military industrial complex.
I can see that being a real punchy story where eyes are opened on both sides, even for Woody's character, who's essentially a pencil-pusher and personally ignorant of the horrors of war, having never been "baptized" as he says.
Main Guy's eyedrops are a constant foreshadowing for a reveal that we never even needed the emphasis for, a random cop is easily persuaded out of a traffic stop which he had good reason to make, and it's such an anticlimax that he gets some vague affection from Widow Mom who's moving away at the very end.
I was hoping for a really solid movie, but I got a boring cringey mess that kept trying to get away from that golden opportunity as much as possible.
Final Verdict: [Meh...]
The Messenger
War Drama / English / 2009
WHY'D I WATCH IT?
Premise is a guy joins Woody Harrelson as a "casualty notifier" who visits the homes of the family members of people who have died while in military service and informs them of their loss. Honestly seems like a great premise for a movie so it's been on my watchlist for a long time.
WHAT'D I THINK? *SPOILERS*
WHAT'D I THINK? *SPOILERS*
"Anybody watching would say that you're a lowlife trying to take advantage of my grief and I'm a slut who's not grieving."
This movie had the bare minimum of what I expected from it, but it did not capitalize on it's premise in any way I appreciated.
Early on I missed some dialog establishing that Main Guy's girlfriend is marrying someone else and he's low-key upset about it, this is for some reason supposed to establish his headspace as he gets reassigned to become a "casuality notifier", informing the next-of-kin that their spouse or family member has died.
As expected, the movie takes the opportunity to portray a variety of situations that could plausibly develop from this scenario, which I was looking forward to, but unfortunately I was never emotionally invested in what happened.
Part of the problem here is that I'm experiencing this through the perspective of Main Guy as he develops a work relationship with Woody Harrelson, but I don't even like Main Guy or Woody Harrelson. Woody's character acts bipolar where in one scene he's the by-the-book straightedge guy who's seen too many broken hearts that he's become cold to his job. But then in the next scene he's drinking his ass off and porking a prostitute. What does this add to the movie? What does this add to his character? How does this endear me to when he puts on a straight face and delivers soul-crushing news to the next random person who's family member was killed in [insert current pointless war here].
Main Guy's even worse, he's got a case of the "Vindictive Ex", and his character is seemingly split too thin across all of 4 competing subplots, where in one he's the former soldier trying to clamp down on his grief for being inadvertently responsible for the death of a comrade, he's the ex-boyfriend to a girl who's giving him the cold shoulder and he's really broken up about it, he's the new "casuality notifier" to work with Woody and he's simultaneously learning to do the job and maintain a healthy work relationship with his pseudo-boss, AND he's the creepy stalker of one of the only person he ever "notified" and is trying to jump in her pants, true Overnight Romance style.
And that last subplot dominates a good chunk of the movie. It's SOOO hard to watch. The last third of the movie doesn't even really feature them delivering "casualty notifications" (I keep putting that it quotes because it's the dumb term they keep using) and instead just becomes really cringey, with them crashing Main Guy's ex's wedding, randomly showing up to Widow Mom's home uninvited, and getting into fights with jet skiers.
I wouldn't think a movie about telling family members their son or husband died would have this much sex, but it does and it seems incredibly tasteless.
Woody's reveal that he's never seen combat doesn't add anything to his character, Main Guy's reveal that he inadvertently killed a friendly doesn't add anything to his character, explaining how he almost killed himself doesn't add anything to his character. It's just exposition. They drink, they laugh, they scream, they cry, and I'm just bored.
Main Guy falling for one of the woman he's "notified" shouldn't have even been part of the movie, it's just a massive distraction to what could already make an engaging and emotional journey for a character experiencing other's grief by proxy. Like this is such a great concept for a movie and it feels so wasted because they tried to cram in so much stupid shit.
Like I can imagine a version of this movie without the prostitutes, without the estranged ex, without creepy stalker vibes, where this guy's just such a hardass from field duty, that he's reassigned and forced to take another look at the whole picture. Someone dies in war and they're glorified as a hero, but at home people aren't so fond of their friends and family getting chewed up and spit out by the military industrial complex.
I can see that being a real punchy story where eyes are opened on both sides, even for Woody's character, who's essentially a pencil-pusher and personally ignorant of the horrors of war, having never been "baptized" as he says.
Main Guy's eyedrops are a constant foreshadowing for a reveal that we never even needed the emphasis for, a random cop is easily persuaded out of a traffic stop which he had good reason to make, and it's such an anticlimax that he gets some vague affection from Widow Mom who's moving away at the very end.
I was hoping for a really solid movie, but I got a boring cringey mess that kept trying to get away from that golden opportunity as much as possible.