Took me completely by surprise. Everything it does is predictable and formula, but done incredibly well. Palmer plays a bit against type (I’d have thought she’d be better served as the freewheeling Alyssa, and I’d have been wrong), while SZA is a real breakout. Most musicians in this role would either sleepwalk through it or use it as a goofy brand exercise, but SZA reveals herself as a real actor.
A lot of fun, and I regret not seeing it earlier with a larger crowd
Can’t really fault the high-minded hysteria of 2007 liberalism, but in 2024 this movie really wears on one’s patience. The Streep/Cruise thread is engrossing and approaches a real insight on the tensions involved in manufacturing consent, which the Redford/Garfield scenes are aimless and rote. Peña and Luke feel anonymous as ill-fated special forces troops. It’s very telling that a movie ostensibly about the tragedy of the war on terror doesn’t even consider the Afghani POV. It’s an implied admission that these people are dangerous medieval brutes, and the only moral is that we shouldn’t get involved with them.
If you don't shove annoying nerds into lockers, they grow up to be JJ Abrams
