Here

4.2 - This is out now, so I’m off my NDA! Prefaced by saying I saw this in May at a test screening, so my memory may be just a bit rusty, but I was underwhelmed.

At the core, it’s a decent love story. But it’s so overstuffed with extra story-lines that never get their due, & an unnecessarily convoluted non-linear structure, that it all detracts from Richard & Margaret’s (Hanks & Wright’s) life story, more than enhances it. It feels so much more about the gimmick of planting a camera in a single spot & seeing the same space through time (literally dinosaurs to 2020s & beyond), than it does about a well narrated story. There’s so little unique about it, the same struggles & triumphs - new jobs, holidays, kids starting school, illnesses, and first loves - that everyone experiences, but in many cases overdone & overacted. And as mentioned the extra stories interjected to show how much other life has happened “here” just distract & detract. The score is strong, there are moments that tugged a little at the heart strings (though they rarely felt earned), & the idea is unique, but it ultimately fell very flat for me. Watching “We Live In Time” recently, I couldn’t help but think it pulled off a similar structural idea so much more effectively, & made me wonder what could have been for this.

All that said, there was a decent group of the audience around me, including the woman directly to my right that were an emotional wreck upon the ending, said they “could not wait” to go see it again, & surveyed that they “loved it.” It may not be a bad option to take your Tom Hanks loving elder family members to around Thanksgiving if you just need out of the house.

i’m only liking this because i didn’t dislike it. it was a meaningful story about time and all that can happen in one place, i just wish the main story line would have been the only thing we saw. it felt like i was watching a short film that was made too long.

☆☆☆☆

☆☆☆☆

Gave up 30 mins in

Lovely heartfelt film ❤️