mo. It’s an America where people transform their lives for the
better, but like political promises,
we never see how any of this is
achieved. Olivia goes from studying psychology to lecturing, Mason Sr is a pot-smoking layabout
for half the movie until he reappears as a suitclad, church-going
family man, and most patronisingly of all, a young Hispanic
man becomes a restaurant manager after following the yearsearlier advice of Olivia while fixing her drains, as if incapable of
thinking for himself without the
aid of a pep-talk from a liberal
white lady.
While it’s intriguing to watch
the time-lapse physical development of Coltrane, like thumbing through a photo album in
a stranger’s dusty attic, there’s
little else to keep us hooked. If
you’re a pop culture junkie, Mason Sr’s chats about music and
movies with his son will prove
amusing - especially a now onthe-nose debate about the prospects of a seventh Star Wars
movie in a scene filmed circa
2007/8 - but otherwise we’re left
merely awaiting the next haircut,
or wondering just how strikingly
Coltrane will eventually come
to facially resembling Peter Dinklage by the film’s conclusion.
4 out of 10
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