Just got around to watching it for the first time tonight. We had so many people tell us we’d love it and need to watch it, so it was high on our list. Great cast, and it won so many awards.
I didn’t hate it, but I was left scratching my head over all the hype. I like odd movies and books, so it’s not that I couldn’t handle the weirdness. It seemed like in the same vein as Scott Pilgrim, and if you told me it wasn’t a bit box office but got a cult following, I’d totally believe that.
My wife felt exactly the same way. Maybe it’s just one of those cases where there was too much hype for us, but I felt kind of let down.
It’s one of my all time favorite movies, but you’re not alone. I’ve talked to a handful of people who say the same. My parents don’t “get it”, but I suspect that has something to do with the fact that a big theme of the movie is about being “of” the internet, being always connected, and unable to escape the weight of the world. It’s a very generational theme that isn’t relatable for them.
Being that you’re posting this on Lenny leads me to bet that’s not something you share with them 🤷🏼♂️
Well, on the one hand, I’m an old guy - wouldn’t surprise me if I’m as old or older than your parents - but on the other I’ve grown up on tech. I’ve been online in one way or another since the mid 80s (BBSs, early Internet, early web developer, etc.). I really don’t think any of the themes, including Internet connectivity and parental approval were lost on me. I even had a long committed relationship with someone whose parents were from mainland China.
I just didn’t think it was very remarkable underneath the silly multiverse part.
Maybe it’s just one of those cases where there was too much hype for us, but I felt kind of let down.
Hype, spoilers, trailers upon trailers … IMO these things are ruining cinema experiences.
As someone who rather enjoyed EEAaO … it is not a film that benefits from hype … it’s a deceptively moody / vibe-y film that benefits from coming at you by surprise, telling you a story you didn’t know you wanted to hear/see, a pretty personal experience. It’s that experience, IMO, that people fell in love with. Not that everyone should like it … I’m curious to hear what you didn’t like about it apart from “not living up to the hype” … but your experience doesn’t surprise me at all.
Generally, I’m completely done with hype and trying to decide on whether we should watch something based on whether it’s “good”. There are good objective reasons for thinking that, and I’ve thought it for a while, but the insane inanity of where modern mainstream cinema has gotten to recently has really burnt me. A defining moment of this being when I went and saw the latest Thor film, actually thinking I might enjoy it, and honestly felt like the whole industry had literally picked my pocket. Hobbit trilogy had a similar feeling. We can do better at understanding what we get out of films and talking about what we should see and why.
I avoided everything about it except the hype and the cast. No idea what the story involved.
Like I’ve said, I didn’t dislike it. I felt like it was a cute little fluff piece with a simple, tender parent/child story wrapped in a silly multiverse wrapper.
I so agree with you about Thor. I had enjoyed the prior movies, and when they last one started I figured the silly stuff was just going to be the story teller at the start, which would get displaced by the regular MCU universe. As it approached the halfway point, my wife and I were kind of in disbelief. I couldn’t believe anyone thought it was a good idea.
wrapped in a silly multiverse wrapper.
I think this is probably the major disconnect with fans of the film. Compared to the silly multiverse stuff from Marvel, EEAAO actually did something with the concept by addressing what it means to have made and regretted life decisions and what it would actually look like if you could somehow rise above those choices and not suffer from them. The daughter-mother dynamic then becomes a vehicle to explore that, depicting depression, nihilism and outward and inward destructive urges, and what meaning if any can be built amongst all of that while also folding in a fairly touching if somewhat basic story of immigrants (Asian and others too IMO) and their children.
The simple ending, for instance, where Yeoh’s character can’t quite ignore the multiverse is a pretty stark statement, to me, that enlightenment is almost unattainable however close you get, as it’s human nature to crave something else or new.
Without wanting to be harsh about this, there’s a real chance you didn’t quite get the film. Maybe its absurdism is to blame in part, being a distraction. But OTOH combining all of the above into a fun absurdist genre pastiche was definitely part of the quality of the film for fans. Kinda like seeing a stand up comic for the first time who turns out to be hilarious while also laying down some hard and deep truths.
To get back to my initial point about hype … part of the culture it has created is to emphasise the entertainment aspect of films over the meaning and artistic aspects. A “good” film is obviously good in the cinema in the middle of watching it. The audience will applaud scenes it’s so obvious.
Sometimes a film can mean something deeper and longer term with its quality lying in the discussion and understanding you have afterward and the random rewatch 5 years later.
Without wanting to be harsh about this, there’s a real chance you didn’t quite get the film.
There’s literally nothing you said that wasn’t pretty obvious - don’t assume that because you found something deep out enjoyable that a person who didn’t have the same reaction just “doesn’t get it.”
Well I didn’t mean it intellectually. Often times, in my experience, “getting it” is about resonance with one’s experience, feelings or something else.
The best way to watch EEAAO is knowing nothing about it. Its never going to be what you expect and if you go in expecting too much, you’re likely to be disappointed. Sounds very much like the hype might be why you feel the way you do.
Personally, I love it because there is more than just weirdness to it. It manages to have quite deep and emotional moments that fit naturally amongst everything that is going on. For example:
spoilers
When Evelyn learns that breaking up with Waymond would have led to a ‘perfect’ life and the complexity of her feelings around that, only to be hit moments later by the gut-punch that Waymond would have been far more successful without her too. After that, how can she not regret the decision which led to them both being stuck doing laundry and taxes?
It’s this deeper side and the depth and realism of the characters that really elevate the movie for me and lead to me still thinking about it months later. That’s why it’s more than just a cult hit IMO, but you aren’t wrong if you disagree.
Hype is the not-so-quiet killer of good movies, but it’s a paradox: good movie gets spread by word-of-mouth so much that people stop wanting to hear about it and create a negative opinion before ever engaging with it.
I do my best to recommend movies/tv/games with simple “I liked it” or “it’s worth watching” type statements. I try to avoid overly personal statements like “you would love this” or “you need to see this”, since it takes the autonomy away from the person who might choose to watch it. Additionally, I very often use the phrase “say no more” when getting recommendations, to let people know I’m convinced to try it, without the need for overbearing elaboration.
I have had things ruined by pre-judgment for the over-hyped, and all I can do now is try not to ruin things for anyone else. It’s natural to want to rave about something we really like, but it’s worth being conscious of how bias can set in and affect other people.
That’s the first time I’ve seen that acronym, and my mind instantly played it to the tune of Old MacDonald Had a Farm.
🎶Old Macdonald had a farm, E E A A O🎶
But those kinds of plots (as well as the whole multiverse thing) have already been done in lots of shows like Rick and Morty, Futurama, Marvel, etc. I never understood why there was so much hype to begin with - the movie wasn’t groundbreaking at all. It played out basically exactly how I thought it would, except with some incredibly unrealistic parental apology fantasy tacked on.
Yes, this was my feeling as well, which is why I described it as unremarkable. It wasn’t bad, it just didn’t seem especially novel, especially thought provoking, or whatever.
Yeah, I went in completely blind, having somehow dodged spoilers for a good year when I finally saw it upon its re-release in theaters for the Oscars campaign, and I left the theater thinking it was one of my favorite movies I’ve ever seen.
It’s absolutely not for everyone though, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
It has all the trappings of a big, sci-fi, multiverse, but at it’s core it’s a sweet story of an estranged mother and daughter trying to come to terms with each other.
I think that plot gets lost in a lot of the noise.
It hits harder if you, yourself, have had strained parental relationships.
Yep, this is it exactly. I saw it in the theater with my sister, and we were both bawling by the end.
Which I didn’t personally, but my wife certainly did.
I got the underlying story - it was obvious early on what made the villain - and it was sweet, just not that remarkable.
You didn’t think Racoonatouille was funny as shit? I lost it at that part.
Otherwise it was an alright movie, pretty solid, obvious heart string pulling story line. I liked the no matter what universe they are in they end up together schtick, but again I watched it before I knew it was a big hit so had no expectations either way.
That was funny, as was hotdog fingers. Not “best picture” funny, but funny.
It’s just a movie. If you don’t like it, oh well.
I waited to watch it when it came out on digital. But I hadn’t seen even a trailer for it. One of my friends saw it in theaters and loved it, and told me to go in completely blind, so that’s what I did.It’s really cool for what it is. But it definitely has its own vibe and style. I could see why someone wouldn’t like it.
I also avoided all information about it. About the only thing I saw was that it was listed on a Lemmy post about good time travel movies, so I knew it had that element.
And I get that it’s just a movie, but this is a place to discuss movies, so that’s what I was doing.
Yup and I was also discussing it with you. Not sure why we’re explaining what we’re doing here, but ok.
You are strange for not loving the film. It is generally loved so, yeah, not loving it makes you strange.
There’s nothing wrong with that. Some folks don’t love chocolate. Or puppies. Or sunsets. Or whatever seems to be loved by most folks.
Read through this thread - I don’t feel like I’m in a small minority.
I’ve been reading it. The folks here are most definitely in the minority.
And that’s fine. I don’t know why it would bother anybody.
A 1% minority encompasses about 80 million people. When people say small minority they refer to the percentage part, not the absolute number (which is indeed quite big)
Maybe not a small minority but the voting seems to indicate the majority view beyond the comments, not that there’s anything wrong with being in the minority on a film! If anything I’d say it’s good to hear from the minority opinion in films … it can broaden your perspective.
It’s wild to me that you get downvoted so much throughout this thread as the OP with replies that are polite enough and just reiterate your opening opinion about the movie.
I think I’ll go and turn off showing downvotes again, I feel I left the need for that behind at the old place.
Yeah, it’s pretty bizarre in a discussion community about movies to have people downvoting a subjective opinion. People use it as a “disagree” button. Oh well, I honestly don’t care about the points, it just seems weird.
Well yea downvotes are, IMO, objectively shite. Too many confuse them with “do not agree” and an excuse to not contribute to the conversation. Except, instead of contributing they cancel out someone else’s upvote.
The nail in the coffin for me about downvotes is that they’re too vague to be a useful piece of information. An upvote generally means “good”. A downvote can mean anything from “this is vile in need of moderation” to “I disagree” to “I don’t like your tone or general position” to, perhaps here with decentralisation, “I don’t like your instance”. All without any compulsion to contribute or converse. Pretty much guaranteed to foster some base level of toxicity.
There’s apparently a “controversial” sorting coming, which might help. Otherwise I’d be interested in an alternative way of flagging something as “bad” but not enough for moderation. Perhaps a requirement to actually post your reasoning for the “downvote” so that others can then upvote that if they like in a sort of meta commentary layer or something.
Or maybe something like hacker news where only relative long time users and contributors can downvote.
I actively avoid trailers and spoilers.
- Theyre ads. Fuck ads.
- They make the movie experience worse pretty much every time. Going in blind is almost always the best option.
It’s almost my main reason to not go to the cinema anymore, I do not want to watch any trailers for an upcoming movie I already know I want to see. I’m rather waiting 6 months for streaming. Of course, that means avoiding any info about the movie for 6 more months. It was so much better during Covid when stuff got released almost directly to streaming.
I think Star Wars was the last movies that had good takers that just teased you without revealing any plot points. Modern trailers reveal absolutely every plot and twist in the whole movie. I hate it.
I agree. I didn’t see a single one for it!
The expectation from reviews can also turn to a let down.
I feel the same.
It’s an okay movie that definitely feels like it had a lot of heart going into it. I can see that they put in tons of love, but it didn’t resonate with me…
Maybe because it wasn’t for me?
Do you have any thoughts on why you think you didn’t like it? It’s perfectly normal not to personally like something the majority does, but you didn’t really mention any details about why you thought it wasn’t as great as you were expecting.
If the buttplugs don’t do it for you, nothing will. I’d love to know what movies OP does like
Like I said, it’s not that I didn’t like it. I liked it, I just didn’t think it was that remarkable. I’m dumbfounded that it won best picture. It was cute and quirky. Like I said, I’d put it with Scott Pilgrim or Buckaroo Banzai.
To be fair there are lots of movies that don’t deserve Best Picture and win anyway. Years ago, I couldn’t understand Slumdog Millionaire’s win. Love the Coen Bros., but clearly There Will Be Blood was the superior film over No Country, in my opinion.
What kind of movie do you think should win best picture?
“Kind” of movie? No particular kind. Here, look at the Wikipedia page on the best picture awards and scan through the winners. There’s quite a variety of type of movie, but I feel like the caliber is generally higher. You, of course, might disagree.
I’m very familiar with the best picture winners. The only qualification is that the members voted for it. And the members are creatives in the film industry who either have already won an Oscar for something like best actor or best director or who have been sponsored by multiple other members for membership.
So those members clearly recognized or connected to something in the movie that has merit to vote for it for best picture. I think it was the fact that it was both unique and surreal but also accessible with an emotional core. Personally, I’d rather see more films that take chances like that than traditional “Oscar bait” (most of which I also enjoy).
Honestly, I’m glad people enjoyed it. I also have zero problem with unusual Oscar winners, and I love movies that take chances. And, as I keep saying, I didn’t dislike this one. It just didn’t seem remarkable to me. But it’s a subjective thing - as you say, clearly a lot of other people felt differently.
I loved Swiss Army Man, the directors’ previous film, for its weirdness, charm, music, humour and visual flare. Everything Everywhere was an improvement over all of these aspects so I absolutely loved it, such that I can overlook the pacing issues. They never lose the very human story through the madness.
I saw it before all the hype and loved it. Maybe the hype hurts the experience?
It often does. Question though: when the curtains came down, did you find yourself thinking “This should be a best picture nominee/winner?”
I was. When I finished I thought that it was a shame it was released in February and now have no chance of winning best movie because this movie if fucking great. It was the best movies released in that year, not as good as Parasite, but way better that other Oscar’s best picture.
I watched it before I knew anything about the hype, and it was just an ok movie for me. Fun that they dare be playful.
I was very surprised when I saw all the main stream accolades it received. I guess maybe it managed to be seen by a lot of people that wouldn’t normally like weird fantasy movies etc, so it was something new and fun for them?
I watched it again later to see what I had missed. I had not missed anything. Did not finish the last play through.
I definitely normally like weird fantasy movies and EEAAO was a deeply moving experience for me. I think you have to see that’s it’s not a sci-fi movie. It’s a family drama that just happens to wear sci-fi clothing. And it’s one of the best written family drama scripts in recent memory.
I also appreciated the message that nihilism is almost the easy way out. Optimism requires effort.
Really, it’s a film about family
I probably don’t care that much for family drama, so that just detracted from the fantasy experience for me? I liked several elements of it, but as a whole it was a noisy experience.
It’s funny that a movie is so divisive.
Eh, anything that becomes popular becomes divisive. Because it becomes popular to love it and also popular to hate it.
I’m really just speaking for myself. It had some interesting elements. It was ok to watch on the first play through. I’m quite surprised by all the official accolade of how great the film is.
And I thought it deserved every bit of the accolades haha. But that’s fine. We like what we like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I watched it before I knew anything about the hype, and it was just an ok movie for me.
I was very surprised when I saw all the main stream accolades it received.
You know that’s exactly how I felt about Top Gun: Maverick. I watched it, it was fun. But I didn’t really feel like watching it again. Then I check reddit the next day and apparently the movie was saving cinema?
I resonate with that. Again, I didn’t at all dislike it - I’d give it a thumbs up - but I also didn’t think it was that notable, either. It seems like a very strange Best Picture winner.
Depends on your tastes. I personally really liked it because it represented philosophical absurdism and various existential concepts in an interesting/comedic way. I laughed really hard at things like the “everything” donut and Michelle Yeoh’s big fight scene where she used “compassion” to solve all the henchpeople’s life problems and “defeat” them.
Despite it’s fun/weird/comedic exterior it was very clearly written with these philosophical concepts in mind. If you like thinky/philosophical stuff you probably like this movie too, that said if you don’t like that kind of vibe you probably just viewed the randomness/oddness of some of the scenes as strange.
I stopped in half cause it was literally unwatchable and extremely inconsistently boring to me, despite being a genre I like with actors I like. It’s matter of subjectivity…
PS: Please don’t write me that if I finished it I’d might understand or like it. If I don’t like half of the movie, I’m simply not finishing it.
I watched it without knowing much about it. It’s absurdist and it does that fairly well for most of the movie. It’s also shot and performed pretty well. There was some good action choreography, and thoughtful design. It pulled on the heart strings and had some powerful messages in it. The style was also striking.
On the downside it felt like it was trying to be a fusion superhero movie. For a movie it had appreciable depth as a piece of existential absurdist work. However, I felt that depth in the end was still relatively shallow - it’s just that there aren’t many competitors in the movie space. Much of the action didn’t feel like it built or had meaningful stakes, it felt more like it was trying to meet a screentime quota from the producers.
I think pretty much everyone involved did quite well and put together a nice piece of art. However, I don’t think it has the attributes of a classic. I can see it as a cult classic, especially with a segment of audience it really resonates. However I think it might be a little too Netflix-y to have that kind of staying power. On the other hand it seems was marketed or else spread organically very well, so that could help it.
Still, I think I and a lot of others saw the credits roll and felt that it was missing substance at its very core. I believe the story itself, and the unfolding of it perhaps, is one of the weaker elements. It retains a great tension through it nonetheless, but this tension snaps as soon as the movie is over.
I think it is appropriate that it is considered a good movie, but I don’t think you are weird for not loving it.
I’d upvote you twice if I could, this well articulates a lot of how I felt
Good to know I’m not alone!
