Suburbicon

            As the new millennium began, we began to see the rise of a new kind of George Clooney, from the perspective of the director’s chair. It came to a start with Confessions of a Dangerous Mind in 2002, showing how he handles big historical events on screen, and that he can blend genres into a darky comedic fashion. Not only that, but with films like O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Hail, Caesar!, he’s also established a good relationship with the Coen Brothers, so much so that Clooney was given the task to direct one of their scripts: Suburbicon. Before we do get to talking about this, let me just be upfront and say this; if I was to ever do a completely separate list of the most DISAPPOINTING films I’ve seen this year, I guarantee you this would be in the Top 3.

            From what the trailers had given, you’d figure it’d be about Matt Damon playing a 1950’s father, who has connections with the mob and takes them all down…that’s not what the plot is, sadly. Now, films having false advertising isn’t anything new, but maybe what the film really is could still be good, right? Again, no, sadly. In fact, I’m not quite sure how to describe the plot, because it feels like it was trying to be so many different things, that it’s quite baffling. Apparently, Matt Damon hired the mob to ax his wife, so he and his wife’s twin sister can collect insurance money, send his son to boarding school, and run away to have an affair in Aruba…oh, and a black family is struggling with a racist neighborhood.

Yeah, do you see what I mean about this film being a mess? At times it wants to be a crime comedy, other times it’s a comedic thriller, then it’s a historical politics movie, and…it just gets so confusing, like it was several different scripts put together. And apparently, that’s not far from the truth. A friend told me that the film’s script was apparently a compilation between two completely different films: one was a film about black people who lived in a white 50s suburb, and the other was the Coen Brothers script about a boring dad gone bad with the mob. Sure, sometimes it can work, but here it just feels messy. I mean, I kind of get how one could see it working, having the anger building up from the white mob being a metaphor for Matt Damon losing his patience with those interfering with his plans, but it just doesn’t work. It felt like it needed a third point of view to do a re-write or take over as director, but something needed a different view to make this work. A script is the first thing that needs to come into play before a film can be made, and I don’t understand how ANYONE thought the draft they used was good enough here.

It’s a real damn shame, because almost everything else in this film very well made. Clooney is a damn good director, and even with lesser films like this, it still looks like a great deal of effort went into it. The town of Suburicon does have that familiar but haunting feel to it, with how perfect almost everything looks to these people. And the acting is really good too; Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, Gary Basaraba, Noah Jupe, Oscar Isaac, Glenn Fleshler, they’re all fantastic here. They all have great timing, especially with making the serious moments odd but quirky and funny. It’s just that this film’s plot is poorly cobbled together, that it also ruins any of the upcoming jokes you can see coming a mile away.

This was really upsetting, because with the kind of talent they have a part of this, I’m left asking “how?” Suburbicon should have been a success, but I guess it doesn’t matter how big your talent is, not everything can be bullseyes. And considering how this film is bombing as badly as it is, both critically and financially, I finally understand; it’s just a bad movie. Is it one of the worst films I’ve seen this year? No, I’ve seen far, FAR, worse.

Rating: D+