I got my Alamo Season Pass last week, immediately when they were available. I figure I only need to go twice a month to get my money’s worth. As soon as I signed up, this is the movie whose times I checked immediately. It’s exactly why I got my pass, so that I can see movies I’m interested in, but don’t absolutely need to see. The absolute needs, I’ll pay for. The ones I’m on the fence about (and this one I’d been putting off for that exact reason, I wasn’t sure if it was worth the extra twenty bucks to me), I can cross my fingers that they’ll still be available when pass reservations open (cause the catch is I can only reserve a ticket 7 days in advance, so the 50 bucks I dropped on Bong Joon Ho movies in April the day before I signed up was still worth it cause those are already sold out) and if they are, then yay I get to go. So yay I got to go!
Elijah Wood is the strange little man child named Norval. Norval has never had any relationship with his dad, but instead lives a very comfortable and privileged life with his Mom in Beverly Hills. Dad sends him a letter inviting him for a visit at his secluded little beach home, which Norval gladly accepts. Once he arrives, he soon finds that he may be getting much more than he bargained for, and he might learn things he didn’t wanna know about his father.
First of all, I loved how quickly the film goes into the story. The opening credits follow Norval from his Uber to his Dad’s door and it just takes off. It’s like they took that advice of write the first few pages (him getting the letter, etc) and then throw them out completely. I liked the approach.
As for the rest of the movie, I had some pretty high expectations. The trailer hadn’t really excited me much, and I even skipped a few opportunities to see screenings with Elijah Wood in person. But the buzz that came out of those screenings excited me. I was told that it was completely bonkers and bloody and messed up. Now it had my attention.
The first act played out about how I expected. Quirky and unsettling. Then it took a turn that was completely out of left field, not at all what I thought was gonna happen. And I was so lost. Not confused, just lost, because I had no clue where were going, but wherever the destination it was getting there very slowly. It started losing me as I was wondering when and how we were gonna get to the crazy.
Then we took another turn for the final act, and this looked like it would deliver on its promises. And it did, in bursts. There were
some absolutely insane moments, but they felt just like that, moments within a bigger film, not overtaking the film. I loved those bits, but I wanted so much more. I thought it would be absolutely non stop bonkers, but it was broken up to where it felt unsatisfying when I did get my fix.
Come to Daddy – \m/ \m/ \n