The new theatrical release The Beach Bum stars Matthew McConaughey and is written/directed by weirdo indie film maker Harmony Korrine. If you don’t know him, it’s best to summarize him as a guy never interested in commercial film making. Or what the many folk might classify as “good taste”. That said, this is probably his most mainstream flick if only because of the actors and a relative lack of crass. Now, I don’t like all of his movies, but they are certainly interesting usually… and if you want something in bad taste that’s artfully made, he’s your man.
But the Beach Bum is a movie that I really didn’t like. It stars McConaughey as a wealthy (by way of his wife) poet living the life of a drunken, stoned beach bum in the Florida Keys. I’m afraid there’s not much more plot than that… because even the bare-bone plot elements are only an afterthought to both the character and the director. The character might be vaguely interested in, for example, a Last Will and Testament… but kind of wanders away from it and hangs out with a guy selling dolphin tours to tourists. The Dude in The Big Lebowski is an active, upstanding member of society compared to this guy.
I can’t argue that the movie does exactly what it sets out to do. It’s about a drunk who barely cares about anything but living his version of his drunken, Pabst Blue Ribbon-soaked life. I’d say it’s a bit of a stoner comedy but I’m not sure stoners would find it funny in the way they would a typical stoner comedy. I guess some might see themselves in this guy and enjoy the movie on that level. But I was deeply bored.
So, yeah, I really didn’t like this flick. I guess I respect it on its own terms. I’m not morally offended by it or anything… I was just bored. Deeply bored. Maybe I’m too square for it. Maybe I just don’t “get it”.
Score: 56