Overview
A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, tracing the rise and fall of multiple characters in an era of unbridled decadence and depravity during Hollywood's transition from silent films and to sound films in the late 1920s.
Hollywood loves to make movies about Hollywood. I give the director credit in that he clearly set out to make an epic. That said, he didn’t get there. Much of the first two hours of the movie were really, really disjointed. This movie kind of reminded me of The French Dispatch in that I wondered if I was one of the people in that line of business would I have appreciated more? For the most part it didn’t work for me despite some really fantastic performances by the leads (particularly Robbie and Calva, although the scene with Pitt and Smart might be the best one in the movie). The part that did work for me was the last 30 minutes of the film. When the movie got past some of the sillier scenes and got down to some real drama things seemed to go a lot better. The movie is ultimately about stars being made and discarded as part of a bigger machine. It’s a shame that the majority of the movie doesn’t work because the final scenes (the montage) are unbelievable.
IHATEBadMovies.com reviews Babylon
Movie title: Babylon
Movie description: A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, tracing the rise and fall of multiple characters in an era of unbridled decadence and depravity during Hollywood's transition from silent films and to sound films in the late 1920s.
Date published: 2023-02-23
Director(s): Damien Chazelle
Actor(s): Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Jean Smart, Flea, Jovan Adepo, J.C. Currais, Jimmy Ortega, Hansford Prince, Telvin Griffin, Olivia Wilde, Circus-Szalewski, Lukas Haas, Li Jun Li, Kaia Gerber, Patrick Fugit, Eric Roberts, Cici Lau, Tyler Seiple, Zack Newick, Rory Scovel, Olivia Hamilton, P.J. Byrne, Alexandre Chen, Bob Clendenin, Miraj Grbić, Johnny Hoops, James Wellington, Carlos Nunez, Laura Steinel, Danny Jolles, James Vincent, Richard Clarke Larsen, Max Minghella, Samara Weaving, Jeff Garlin, Anthony Burkhalter, Terry Walters, Trisha Simmons, Ariel Flores, Karolina Szymczak, Sean O'Bryan, David Ury, Katia Gomez, Vanessa Bednar, Carson Higgins, Armando Cosio, Frederick Koehler, Spencer Morgan, Ric Sarabia, Jim Allen Jackson, Katherine Waterston, Yissendy Trinidad, Cyrus Hobbi, Anton Hedayat, Hayley Huntley, John Mariano, Christopher Allen, Arely Vianet, Jeremy Roberts, Alex Reznik, Chloe Fineman, Pat Skipper, John Kerry, Sarah Ramos, Jennifer Grant, Julian Lefevre, Taylor Nichols, Bryan Scott Johnson, Kelly Meyer, Brenna Power, David Abed, Kevin Symons, Jonathan Thomson, Jim O'Brien, Chris Doubek, Dorian Martin, Todd Giebenhain, Mather Zickel, Ireland Sexton, Andrew Hawtrey, Mike Fletcher, Jonathan Ohye, James Crittenden, Pete Ploszek, Robert Beitzel, Ethan Suplee, Walker Hare, Douglas Fruchey, Taylor Hill, Marc Platt, Stephen Thomas, Sophia Magaña, Karen Bethzabe, Oscar Balderrama, Aurielle Simmons, Eamon Hunt, Kenajuan Bentley, John Macey, Noah Reilly, Marcos A. Ferraez, Phoebe Tonkin, Troy Metcalf, Albert Hammond Jr., Cutty Cuthbert, Bregje Heinen, Dana Marcolina, Tal Seder, Robert Morgan, Nana Ghana, Joe Dallesandro, E.E. Bell, Sol Landerman, Karina Fontes, Spike Jonze, Freya Parker, Tobey Maguire, Lewis Tan, Manny Liotta, Anna Chazelle
Genre: Drama, Comedy
My Review
Hollywood loves to make movies about Hollywood. I give the director credit in that he clearly set out to make an epic. That said, he didn’t get there. Much of the first two hours of the movie were really, really disjointed. This movie kind of reminded me of The French Dispatch in that I wondered if I was one of the people in that line of business would I have appreciated more? For the most part it didn’t work for me despite some really fantastic performances by the leads (particularly Robbie and Calva, although the scene with Pitt and Smart might be the best one in the movie). The part that did work for me was the last 30 minutes of the film. When the movie got past some of the sillier scenes and got down to some real drama things seemed to go a lot better. The movie is ultimately about stars being made and discarded as part of a bigger machine. It’s a shame that the majority of the movie doesn’t work because the final scenes (the montage) are unbelievable.
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My Review - 5/10
5/10