I may watch it again, but this was an unenjoyable two hours of my life that I will never get back. I could’ve rewatched two episodes of the series, or The Wire, and would’ve felt that I had a decent Saturday night. I had to watch it at least the once out of a sense of duty, while trying to keep an open mind. The chattering tombstones already told me not to expect great things, however.InCamelot wrote: ↑Sun Oct 10, 2021 8:47 pmExcept the Chris VO, agree 100%.PolackTony wrote: ↑Sat Oct 09, 2021 9:08 pm Finally bit the bullet and watched it. It’s not great. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it’s awful, exactly, but it was a pretty poorly executed and underwhelming film. There were some high points in the form of some decent acting (Gandolfini, Alessandro Nivola, the actresses that played Livia and Giuseppina, Leon Odom), but this was at least outweighed by the numerous questionable decisions and odd portrayals. Paulie and Silvio were painful to watch. The last scene with Silvio and Dickie was cornball and awkward to the point of being nauseating (“beyond this thing of ours”). I agree with other comments that they tried to do way too much with too little time (while wasting what little they had to work with on seemingly pointless scenes and cheap nods to the series like Johnny shooting through Livia’s hairdo). I thought it was actually quite a bit less “woke” than some comments had led me to expect, but I agree that it was difficult to really understand what Chase et al were trying to accomplish with the riot stuff and the Harold subplot (or is it the main plot?). It would be one thing if the war with Harold tied into Dickie’s death, then there would be a narrative arc there, at least.
Don’t even get me started on Junior. Painful to watch and, to me, a bizarre choice. We know that Junior was vindictive and Machiavellian and could harbor bitter grudges even against family. But no way do I buy him as a bumbling cuck in his prime, who would’ve let a pissant kid like Paulie talk to him like that in front of other made guys. I understand that this was part of building towards Junior having Dickie clipped, but c’mon. For me, the pathos of Junior’s character in the series (apart from being how utterly alone he really was), was seeing him reduced to what he became from old age, bitterness, and dementia. It just doesn’t work if he was a doofus in his prime.
Since when were Silvio and Big Pussy that much older than Tony? These guys got their start running around together. But then Sil is already well into the life and greets Tony as “kid” here. How is Sil freaking bald as a teenager (or even early twenty-something, if they’re really stretching it)?? No way was Sil’s hair fake, I mean c’mon. Super cheap move and odd choice, again. Also, not for nothing, but why would Tony be skeeved about taking the JBLs when he apparently had no problem jumping an ice cream vendor and hijacking the truck?? Incoherent.
Chris voiceover: completely unnecessary. Chattering dead in the opening scene: cornball. Frank Lucas: for the love of God, why?? Junior’s “comedian” comment to Joey Diaz’s character: cheap.
As someone else already stated, this just didn’t feel at all like something from the Sopranos universe. Much of it was muddled and glib and superficial. My favorite scene was the one with the guidance counselor (they should’ve had Coach Horseface back on), as this was one of the only ones that felt “in universe”. Most strikingly, the movie was terribly unfunny. This was almost criminally offense to me, given how unbelievably funny the series was. Amid all of the eye-rolls and groans, I don’t think I even so much as smiled.
Lastly, the biggest question of all: how did Johnny Boy get away with the mustache??
Strange movie, so far not in a good way. Gotta see it again
I thought the Chris VO was unnecessary and added nothing of substance to the movie. But I’ll concede that it ranks low in the litany of outrages that I’ve enumerated.
I can only hope that when I do rewatch the series, I won’t have intrusive thoughts of this absurd portrayal of Junior while Dom Chianese sings “Core ‘Ngrato”.
