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Movie Review - Midsommar
Perhaps the most missable film opening this summer. We can only hope the bar won't get lower than this pointlessly sordid pseudo-art.
Midsommar * (out of 5) (R) This is one of the worst movies in recent memory. The premise is a quintet of unlikeable college pals, including one iffy couple, joining their Swedish member as he returns to his homeland for summer vacation. They go to the idyllic, remote commune in which he was raised for its annual celebration of the titular solstice. It looks like a loving hippie relic from the 1960s, with all the warmth and sharing one could seek. But something seems amiss. And it is. Big time.
As the newbies mingle with the locals for a while, cracks in the veneer of holistic harmony gradually emerge, leading to some truly R-worthy developments. I suppose there’s a satiric point or two behind the production, but it’s overwhelmed by tedium, before descending into a slew of pointlessly gruesome events, ranging from the least erotic sex and nudity since Kathy Bates stripped for a dip in the hot tub in About Schmidt, to the morbidly grisly.
Regular readers will know I have a high tolerance for, if not delight from, the most taboo displays allowed in the theaters. But those edgy components still have to make sense in context to ring true. Otherwise, you get icky inanity like Human Centipede. Or this one, which isn’t nearly as disgusting, but almost as hard to justify as time worth spending.
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The scenery is splendid, but that’s about all I can find to praise. The Swedish tourism bureau will likely agree. (7/2/19)