The overall rating of Saltburn on IMDB is 7.1...that seems slightly more generous than I'd give it, but half points aren't allowed....
Scrolling through the numerous reviews on this sight, the reference to "The Talented Mr. Ripley," the 1999 film starring Matt Damon, Jude Law, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Cate Blanchette (based on the 1955 novel by the same name), are plentiful...there's a reason for that--if you saw Mr. Ripley, which I did upon its release, the parallels are undeniable: first there's the plot, then there's the hype...both films have been lauded, both films were underwhelming in their own rights...I don't hold Ripley in the esteem that many on here obviously do...it was an Ok film that fell short in my book....but, on to Saltburn....
If you've managed to scroll through and read all of the reviews and have, somehow, inexplicably found your way to mine, you know the players, and you know their play, so I'm not going to bore you with a plot recap...we'll go to the pros and cons....
Pros: There are some good performances...I guess I was slightly more impressed with Jacob Elordi than many on here...he's beautiful, he plays the role of the privileged and lazy playboy effortlessly, and he has a genuine charm, if not an adolescent temperament...his casting was obvious, because it's not too far fetched to see why people are meant to be drawn to him...the camera loves him, so why shouldn't we? I bought it...Rosamund Pike and Richard E Grant play the British upper class parents who live in an obscene castle, with obscene wealth, and a forced sense of charity with aplomb...Pike especially so--and if there are lines to laugh at, odds are she's the one delivering them (her dalliance in lesbianism comes to mind)...well, maybe not so much a laugh as a chuckle, but there is some humor there...their tone deafness and their being oblivious to the real world is where most of the humor comes from...they ooze fake sentiment...I liked the Farleigh character--the sexually fluid, sinister, dark sheep, party boy...Archie Madekwe fleshes him out, and makes him interesting...he has a few moments before he's cast off, never to be seen again...the visuals are lush, but devoid of actual substance and attachment--which is the mood of the film, so it helps weave the narrative...
Cons: ...it's a LONG weave...Saltburn clocks in over the 2 hour mark, but it feels exponentially longer than its actual time...it drags...a lot of the decadence for decadence's sake could've been shaved off...Carey Mulligan is introduced, and has the potential to be the Helena Bonham Carter-esque "cookiest character" in the film as "Poor Dear" Pamela, but her role boils down to nothing more than a cameo--at most, 10 minutes of the 2 hour plus--so, just when you're wanting to get to know her, she leaves (although, the reaction to her offscreen death is another chuckle)...the "shock for shock's sake" scenes didn't disturb me, I just don't like it when I'm spoon fed just how crazy someone is meant to be...did I need to see Oliver suck sperm bathwater, perform oral sex on a menstruating teen and the end results, or take his clothes off in the rain and dry hump a fresh grave to know he was a little off? My first instinct is, no--I don't, but that brings me to the problems I had with Barry Keoghan's Ollie...
He's the central character, and I'll say that he shows definite commitment to the role, but the casting is problematic....fine as an actor as he may be, Keoghan showed all 31 of his years when juxtaposed with Elordi, Madekwe, Allison Oliver (who plays Felix's sister, Venetia), and the rest of the clan at Oxford...so much so that when he is aged 16 years at the end of the film, he looks exactly the same age as Rosmund Pike's Elspeth when they have their "chance meeting" at the cafe near the film's conclusion...there's nothing particularly attractive about him (except his surprising physique), and he's not terribly endearing, yet everyone wants to take him under their wing and take care of him...if there was any kind of expression to his face that went along with his performance, perhaps it might've been more believable, but as it stands, it's not...there had to have been other options for the role of Oliver, but maybe they couldn't have got the funding for the film without Keoghan--it happens, but who knows?
The real con is the plot predictability....the minute Farleigh's email to Sotheby's is revealed, you knew Oliver did it...the minute Felix's body is found in the maze, you knew Oliver did it--so much so that the only shock is that Felix was poisoned...I'd have bet money he'd have been impaled by the antlers that Oliver was wearing at the party the night before...the minute Felix gets in the jeep to take Oliver to see his allegedly widowed mother, you knew it was all a lie...in fact, the only shock at the end, when you find out that Oliver had a hand in every death in the Catton Family--save the father (or, did he?)--the fact that he's talking to a nearly dead Elspeth instead of a detective was the only surprise...it was hardly the "The Usual Suspects" revelation that Emerald Fennell was probably intending, and came across as more "Oh, look how clever I am"...he deflated the tire on Felix's bike, he had money at the pub, he's typing nonsense on the computer at the cafe, he put razors next to Venetia's tub--I get it--I'm not clutching my pearls...the film ends with Oliver dancing naked around Saltburn...yep, still crazy even with all the goals met, the wealth achieved, and all that's happened...we get it....
I didn't hate the film...I didn't love the film...I'm not even sure I "liked" it...much like Mr. Ripley 25 years ago, my ending feeling was, "Meh"....
Scrolling through the numerous reviews on this sight, the reference to "The Talented Mr. Ripley," the 1999 film starring Matt Damon, Jude Law, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Cate Blanchette (based on the 1955 novel by the same name), are plentiful...there's a reason for that--if you saw Mr. Ripley, which I did upon its release, the parallels are undeniable: first there's the plot, then there's the hype...both films have been lauded, both films were underwhelming in their own rights...I don't hold Ripley in the esteem that many on here obviously do...it was an Ok film that fell short in my book....but, on to Saltburn....
If you've managed to scroll through and read all of the reviews and have, somehow, inexplicably found your way to mine, you know the players, and you know their play, so I'm not going to bore you with a plot recap...we'll go to the pros and cons....
Pros: There are some good performances...I guess I was slightly more impressed with Jacob Elordi than many on here...he's beautiful, he plays the role of the privileged and lazy playboy effortlessly, and he has a genuine charm, if not an adolescent temperament...his casting was obvious, because it's not too far fetched to see why people are meant to be drawn to him...the camera loves him, so why shouldn't we? I bought it...Rosamund Pike and Richard E Grant play the British upper class parents who live in an obscene castle, with obscene wealth, and a forced sense of charity with aplomb...Pike especially so--and if there are lines to laugh at, odds are she's the one delivering them (her dalliance in lesbianism comes to mind)...well, maybe not so much a laugh as a chuckle, but there is some humor there...their tone deafness and their being oblivious to the real world is where most of the humor comes from...they ooze fake sentiment...I liked the Farleigh character--the sexually fluid, sinister, dark sheep, party boy...Archie Madekwe fleshes him out, and makes him interesting...he has a few moments before he's cast off, never to be seen again...the visuals are lush, but devoid of actual substance and attachment--which is the mood of the film, so it helps weave the narrative...
Cons: ...it's a LONG weave...Saltburn clocks in over the 2 hour mark, but it feels exponentially longer than its actual time...it drags...a lot of the decadence for decadence's sake could've been shaved off...Carey Mulligan is introduced, and has the potential to be the Helena Bonham Carter-esque "cookiest character" in the film as "Poor Dear" Pamela, but her role boils down to nothing more than a cameo--at most, 10 minutes of the 2 hour plus--so, just when you're wanting to get to know her, she leaves (although, the reaction to her offscreen death is another chuckle)...the "shock for shock's sake" scenes didn't disturb me, I just don't like it when I'm spoon fed just how crazy someone is meant to be...did I need to see Oliver suck sperm bathwater, perform oral sex on a menstruating teen and the end results, or take his clothes off in the rain and dry hump a fresh grave to know he was a little off? My first instinct is, no--I don't, but that brings me to the problems I had with Barry Keoghan's Ollie...
He's the central character, and I'll say that he shows definite commitment to the role, but the casting is problematic....fine as an actor as he may be, Keoghan showed all 31 of his years when juxtaposed with Elordi, Madekwe, Allison Oliver (who plays Felix's sister, Venetia), and the rest of the clan at Oxford...so much so that when he is aged 16 years at the end of the film, he looks exactly the same age as Rosmund Pike's Elspeth when they have their "chance meeting" at the cafe near the film's conclusion...there's nothing particularly attractive about him (except his surprising physique), and he's not terribly endearing, yet everyone wants to take him under their wing and take care of him...if there was any kind of expression to his face that went along with his performance, perhaps it might've been more believable, but as it stands, it's not...there had to have been other options for the role of Oliver, but maybe they couldn't have got the funding for the film without Keoghan--it happens, but who knows?
The real con is the plot predictability....the minute Farleigh's email to Sotheby's is revealed, you knew Oliver did it...the minute Felix's body is found in the maze, you knew Oliver did it--so much so that the only shock is that Felix was poisoned...I'd have bet money he'd have been impaled by the antlers that Oliver was wearing at the party the night before...the minute Felix gets in the jeep to take Oliver to see his allegedly widowed mother, you knew it was all a lie...in fact, the only shock at the end, when you find out that Oliver had a hand in every death in the Catton Family--save the father (or, did he?)--the fact that he's talking to a nearly dead Elspeth instead of a detective was the only surprise...it was hardly the "The Usual Suspects" revelation that Emerald Fennell was probably intending, and came across as more "Oh, look how clever I am"...he deflated the tire on Felix's bike, he had money at the pub, he's typing nonsense on the computer at the cafe, he put razors next to Venetia's tub--I get it--I'm not clutching my pearls...the film ends with Oliver dancing naked around Saltburn...yep, still crazy even with all the goals met, the wealth achieved, and all that's happened...we get it....
I didn't hate the film...I didn't love the film...I'm not even sure I "liked" it...much like Mr. Ripley 25 years ago, my ending feeling was, "Meh"....
Tell Your Friends