MovieChat Forums > Cry Macho (2021) Discussion > Dammit. I really wanted to like this...

Dammit. I really wanted to like this...

posted 2 years ago by TheGutterMonkey (292)
10 replies | jump to latest

But I just couldn't. The kid didn't seem to be a very good actor and Clint (sadly) didn't appear to be physically capable of embodying the role (his acting wasn't bad per se, but the role just didn't feel right for him). He punches a younger man in the face at one point with his emaciated arm, and I found myself more worried Clint was going to hurt himself than I was for the guy who was inexplicably knocked back and bleeding. Something tells me this isn't how I was supposed to be feeling.

Everything just felt so on-the-nose, as well. The bad guys were caricatures of bad guys, the sweet moments were too sweet, and the story itself just felt so... pointless. After Richard Jewell, which I thought was great, I was really hoping for something better. But this just feels like The Mule all over again.

Nevertheless, my pro-Eastwood bias resulted in me giving it a 6 rating on IMDb.

[–] maximmm (3045) 2 years ago

lol - agreed
If Clint played an older man - even a 75 year old, he can still do it. But a cowboy who can ride horses and walk normally? That time has passed and I agree with the other issues you've mentioned. That makes me think Clint's time at directing has passed as well -

[–] brux (14666) 2 years ago

Richard Jewel was a very good movie. The Mule was kind of funny. This was just bad.

[–] mechajutaro (2788) 2 years ago

Sounds like folks are finally realizing that Eastwood is immensely overrated as a director. Pauline Kael noticed this as far back as Play Misty For Me

[–] maul (1533) 2 years ago

Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Mystic River, Gran Torino, Letters from Iwo Jima, etc... yeah, just so immensely overrated. Not. Not in even the slightest comprehensible sense.

[–] mechajutaro (2788) 2 years ago

Unforgiven is pretty cool. The rest of those movies are immensely overrated, and suffer from all the same ailments as does Cry Macho. More and more of us are just now getting around to recognizing this

[–] brux (14666) 2 years ago

I think Unforgiven is his best movie, with Richard Jewel is next best, BUT, because they are good stories, well-scripted, produced and acted. I would not say the direction is anything special, but it was good ... competent. I don't think Clint is a bad director, and if his movies are over-rated, which most movies are, the people involved get the credit. Look at how we raise actors up when all they do is say lines and follow the script.

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

WHAT?????!!!!!!!! Did somebody just invoke the name of the great Pauline Kael? I doff my hat to you, sir.

[–] Mustang (5240) 2 years ago

Haven’t seen it yet but the synopsis sounds very common. Old washed up hero saves someone.

Stallone did the same with the last Rambo film. Eastwood has also done this a couple of times before.

[–] Connie93 (826) 2 years ago

It was crap.

I fell asleep in the cinema!

[–] Boricanator (1369) 2 years ago

I feel the same way. I respect Eastwood as an actor and a filmmaker.

But this film just fell flat.

The character of Mike looked very frail and very weak and just didn’t deliver the emotion punch that was needed. Eastwood used to do that well in films like Million Dollar Baby and Gran Torino.

But it is just not there in this film.

As for the rest of the film, I just didn’t care. The Minett’s performance as Rafo was bad. The rest of the film was very by-the-numbers and I cared little for the characters. Plus, I didn’t feel the tension or the danger that the film intended to portray.

I agree that Jewell is good. This leads me to the following conclusion. Eastwood can still direct a good film, but he doesn’t have the acting shops to carry a film anymore.