pcjmgreene Review of Sublime

Sublime (2007 Video)

This movie is terrible - be warned, you will never get the 113 minutes of your life back!

[1/10 · 27 May 2007]

This movie is so terrible. words can't even begin to describe it - but I'll try. The movie was so slow paced that it felt excruciating, and not in the suspense filled way but more the just want to get this dental appointment over with way. The characters were flat, the acting was bland, the plot was nonexistent, the symbolism was so deep as to be not found at times, the conclusion was terrible and the commentary about the movie made a terrible movie even worse. And those are the best things I can say about it!!!! If it was just a crappy horror movie I could just forget about it and move on (those of us who love horror have to deal with quite a few of those crappy ones before finding some good ones) but the fact that this movie was advertised as a horror movie at all is misleading as the only thing horrific about it is the disgusting assumptions made about people and their "fears". This movie is supposedly a deep look at what make us afraid, etc etc. but the interesting thing is all of Tom C.'s fears that plague him through the movie are all founded on the conversation the night before his hospital stay! There are few fears even mentioned that don't directly deal with the party the night before. And the few fears mentioned that aren't from that night (the daughter, son issue, etc.) are mostly confusing because there is no groundwork laid for you to think that he has any of those fears etc. Even the wife leaving/cheating fear is based on one line of dialog that completely contradicts the close and loving relationship shown before hand. Further, the idea that a white, upper-middle class man is terrified of black people, lesbians, and every other stereotype out there is afraid of them simply because of the fact that he is white and upper-middle class is just as ignorant and shallow!!! And the worst is that the movie makes no effort to show that this man in particular is racist, etc (as a matter of fact one of his close friends at the birthday party is black, so where does that leave us??) you are just supposed to know that he is a white male therefore afraid of lesbians and black people. WHAT?? Plus, if that is your point, than don't you kind of undermine your own point by making the ONLY person in the entire hospital that is actually dangerous and terrifying the black man!!?? I mean, Tom C's character is terrified of the black guy not because he is black but because of the other patient that was killed and the pruning shears used on his fingers!!! And the vague indictment of the health care system (no groundwork, explanation or follow through though), the brother Billy who is supposed to be the voice of truth, but actually comes of as a pretentious ass, who decides that, apparently, the only life to live that actually has meaning is to volunteer in third world countries - any other life is a "making a living, not making a life" - what a bunch of pretentious crap! And finally, the idea that the wife is now facing a life without meaning now that her kids are getting ready to leave the nest (although I don't remember quite being out of the house at either 15 or 16 the ages of the kids) is the most insulting crap I have seen in quite awhile. "She can either find a job in a mean, difficult workforce or depend on her husband for the rest of her life." Are you kidding me?? Is that not a perfect example of the a white, middle-class man thinking he can understand what someone else is thinking and yet not really understanding (as the director describes in the interviews in the special features)? And when you find out that they are trying to somehow describe the Tom C's character really is George Bush and that Billy is really Europe - PLEASE! What a bunch of self important crap! As a horror movie it fails miserably, as a film that explores the human psyche of fear it fails miserably, as a movie that is a political commentary (and there you can pick which of many political ideas that it tries to shove in there - critique of American foreign policy, of American ideals and culture, of the American health-care system. are we noticing a theme here???) it even fails at that!! So the only thing that the movie did not fail at was that it was, in fact, 113 minutes long. So if you are looking to waste exactly 113 minutes, you can still find better than this.