Captain Fantastic Review (2016)

Captain Fantastic

  So this one is a hard film to review, because I'm not exactly sure what I think. I watched Captain Fantastic last night and, to be honest, there were a lot of things that bugged me. Before I get to those things, I am going to talk about Viggo Mortensen's Oscar nomination. While he was solid in the role, there were actors that were far more deserving. Jake Gyllenhaal for instance in Nocturnal Animals, or Paul Dano for Swiss Army Man. Again, not taking away from his good performance, but it just didn't live up to the hype from critics.
  What really bothered me about this movie was the script. It felt very tumblr-esq. Instead of coming up with actual good dialogue, they just quoted authors or philosophers in a way that felt clunky and too formal. Thankfully the acting was solid, so they managed to pull it off more than average actors would have been able to. The other thing that bothered me about the script, was its politics. It felt very agenda driven in ways, and borderline discriminatory of Christians and conservatives. I understand that the point of the film is supposed to raise thought-provoking moral questions. Captain Fantastic does that, but it does it in a way that's annoying and not always even entertaining. To put it simply, Captain Fantastic is Little Miss Sunshine, but without any of the humor or charm that made Little Miss Sunshine enjoyable. Did some of the more emotional scenes work? Yes. But there was mostly stuff that didn't. 4 out of 10 (One Time See For Free)