A24 has YET to take an “L,” bruh.

I just…I can’t believe this. What a track record for them. #consistent 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

Aight, so:

💎 Adam melted into his character—Christ, he killed this! Julia Fox, who played the side jawn, was fire too. Wouldn’t be surprised if she nominated for something.

💎 Master editing 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

💎 The close-ups of reactions were 🔥🔥🔥.

💎 The score, especially during the final Celtics game, intensified key moments. It didn’t overpower  scenes, or “force” emotion. It did what a good score should do—complement the power of the performances.

💎 The screenplay was original, fresh, and a ball of anxiety. It was a cat and mouse chase, reminiscent of a Hitchcock production. You could feel the tension in the people around Howard (Sandler) as they lost their patience with his personality and the implications of his poor decision-making. He just kept getting caught up in this crazy maze of his own creation, and after a while, you know he’s a completely unforgivable, extremely flawed protagonist. And the sympathy continues to deplete over time…

💎 Sandler KILLED this. I needed to repeat this. 

💎 The cameos were fire.  I love that the directors/producers/writers really considered what was poppin’ in 2012, and actually referenced it in the movie. Like, even down to the iOS version of the iPhone messaging interface. Trinidad James!! LOL. Ca$h Out!!! LOL. Hilarious.

One problem–the intro and outro credits felt like a “My first PowerPoint” presentation. The title font also felt amateur. And I totally understand the purpose of tunneling through the gem to frame the introduction, and using the same technique during the conclusion, but wow… it felt ‘eh’—a little too on-the-nose.