You can see from the plethora of 1 and 10 star reviews here how blindly polarized American society is today. If it doesn't conform to the biased news sources both left and right that demonize each other daily, then there is absolutely no moderate middle ground it seems. For those of you giving this 9-10 stars... give your head a shake. That's like putting it on par with The Godfather. For those giving it 1 star reviews, stop watching MSNBC for a second, chill out and try to enjoy the satire. Trump has been roasted constantly over the last 6 years to the point where it's supremely annoying. God forbid someone should do the same to the Bidens for once.
OK rant over, on to the merits and drawbacks of the movie. I will agree that it was overly political, but what can you expect coming from Breitbart. I found the monologues hand-feeding Hunter's misdeeds to the audience with Carrano and the other side characters annoying distractions that really draw you out of the main narrative and make it seem like more of a political hit job than a film. That's probably my biggest gripe, and there are way more creative ways to do this.
The script is laughable at times, but overall I think it pulls through as just around par. The production value was actually quite good, with some great cinematography. Probably one of the best parts of the film, but it's almost like putting lipstick on a pig due to the other failings.
Despite everything else, I really enjoyed Laurence Fox's performance and think he did an excellent job portraying the sleazy yet emotionally damaged addict. Seeing his acting in the trailer was what originally got me to watch this in the first place. The parts where he was recounting his brother Beau and their childhood were excellent. If the rest of the script was able to evoke emotion even close to that as opposed to those annoying asides, this could have been a much better movie. John James as Biden was pretty funny too. I'm glad they didn't throw low blows by making fun of the speech and memory problems.
Overall, I'd give it a 6.5. This is an average movie that is held up by Laurence Fox's great acting, momentary emotional parts of the script that really shine through, and solid production value.
OK rant over, on to the merits and drawbacks of the movie. I will agree that it was overly political, but what can you expect coming from Breitbart. I found the monologues hand-feeding Hunter's misdeeds to the audience with Carrano and the other side characters annoying distractions that really draw you out of the main narrative and make it seem like more of a political hit job than a film. That's probably my biggest gripe, and there are way more creative ways to do this.
The script is laughable at times, but overall I think it pulls through as just around par. The production value was actually quite good, with some great cinematography. Probably one of the best parts of the film, but it's almost like putting lipstick on a pig due to the other failings.
Despite everything else, I really enjoyed Laurence Fox's performance and think he did an excellent job portraying the sleazy yet emotionally damaged addict. Seeing his acting in the trailer was what originally got me to watch this in the first place. The parts where he was recounting his brother Beau and their childhood were excellent. If the rest of the script was able to evoke emotion even close to that as opposed to those annoying asides, this could have been a much better movie. John James as Biden was pretty funny too. I'm glad they didn't throw low blows by making fun of the speech and memory problems.
Overall, I'd give it a 6.5. This is an average movie that is held up by Laurence Fox's great acting, momentary emotional parts of the script that really shine through, and solid production value.