Beginners

Expected to like this much more than I did, and in large part maybe that's why it gets two stars instead of three: expectations.
      I'll also take a large chunk of the blame for going in with misconceptions about how the film was structured. I'm aware that he won for SUPPORTING actor, but I still wanted more Christopher Plummer. To me, that was basically the redeemable part of the film. I had little to no interest in the cliched indie movie romance between the son and girlfriend, which was essentially depicted in a series of movie shorts that result in no personal growth, numerous sad faces, and occasional bright moments brought to you by the scene stealing dog. Just for fun, toss in a dying father as the undercurrent for the whole movie. I was ready for that part, but it turned out the movie wasn't good enough for me to want to deal with the general black cloud that comes with it.
      It's a unique film, and I'm more than happy it got the recognition it did. No complaints about the Plummer Oscar. Again, maybe it's on me that I expected a different film, and it's possible that someone who knows exactly what they are getting can appreciate it more as a simple autobiographical adaptation. In the end, I just found the experiences of a newly out old man far more interesting than the generic angst of his kid, and sadly the balance of those two storylines was entirely backwards.

2/5

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