REVIEW #41 Zeroville (2019)

Zeroville is a film directed by James Franco, set in the 1970’s  a peculiar man obsessed with film travels to Hollywood to get a taste of the film business. He soon makes an impression on a young actress but his dream Hollywood journey soon hits a few hurdles. 


CAST & THE ACTING (8/10)

Some people may disagree with my score here but this cast includes some of my favourite comedy actors and any film containing James Franco, Seth Rogan, Craig Robinson, Will Ferral and Danny Mcbride is off to a pretty great start in my opinion! James Franco’s approach is a weird one I must say but that is what his character is intended to be... weird. An odd ball who travels to Hollywood based on his obsession with film, so much so that he has a tattoo of Montgomery Cliff and Elizabeth Taylor on the back of his head. Megan Fox plays Vikars (James Franco) love interest and I think her performance was pretty good too. So I have given a strong 8 here because I do feel like the acting matched what Franco intended for these characters.


PLOT & THE STORYLINE (8/10)

The plot is a weird one, the lead character is rather strange and the quick progression through his life in Hollywood can be somewhat confusing at times. However I actually liked how odd this storyline was because I think it was intended to be that way. The genre is a comedy-drama and I think it hits the spot. The silliness is matched with some deeper issues like mental health and suicide and I think the Vikars character has a lot more depth to him then you would think at first glance. The actors cast in this film basically ensures that the comedy will come through and I think that it did for sure. The final half an hour or so leaves you think what the hell just happened but I think it shows the depreciation of Vikars mind through the chaos on screen. This film has been absolutely crucified by critics but I tend to disagree with a lot of the mainstream reviews so I think an 8 is fair.


CINEMATOGRAPHY & SPECIAL EFFECTS (8/10)

There wasn’t any special effects really but the cinematography was great! Some of the scenes were captured brilliantly and as I mentioned earlier in the review the more Vikars mind deteriorated the more chaotic the scenes seemed which was some really good visual representation. It’s fitting that Vikars ends up being a film editor and the scenes where he is editing the footage are ironically some of the best scenes in terms of cinematography in my opinion. So a good score here too.


OVERALL (8.2/10)

My final score couldn’t be further away from what IMDB and rotten tomatoes have given but that’s fine by me! This film is rather strange but I enjoyed it because of that not in spite of that. I love the cast in this film, it includes some of my favourite comedic actors and it certainly lives up to the comedy-drama genre. Yes the plot can be slightly confusing at times but I think the chaos in some scenes are more of a visual representation of a deteriorating mind, rather then poor editing from the creators. I believe 8.2 is a fair score and don’t listen to the google reviews and give it a go because I actually enjoyed it! 


Thanks for reading.

Callan

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