It was hot yesterday, and I wanted popcorn, so Gordon and I drove over to the Burbank AMC to see Coppola’s Megalopolis. I wanted to see why the movie opened so poorly. The trailer was spectacular; what could have gone so wrong? Well, it’s a fable comparing the United States with the Roman Empire at its decline. I think it’s based in New York because they showed the Chrysler Building. It opened with a party scene. Lots of drugs and sex, showing how decadent the age is. Rich people partied and poor people watched from behind fences. Adam Driver played the Howard Roark/Elon Musk genius-type who dreams of building a utopian city (Megalopolis) with a material of his own design. But he spends his time when he’s not designing stoned to the bone and having sex with a TV news personality. The city is controlled by two families who are basically oligarchs, and everybody is fighting for power. I picked up lots of Ayn Ran themes (( think) and lots of references to ancient philosophers. There’s a murder of our genius’ wife, or maybe it’s suicide. Not sure. The daughter of the mayor falls in love with the genius and has a baby with him but they can’t marry because it would cause problems with her father. The ‘news’ woman leaves our hero to marry the aging head of a rival family and screws his son. Or maybe it’s his grandson. Anyway, she’s in it for the power and the money. She’s killed off and all the bad stuff turns around—which is a comment on the current state of journalism, IMO. At the end, they all decide the world would be a better place if they all worked together for the future of the baby. It was sort of a kumbaya moment. Anyway, that’s what I came away with. I was confused. My husband is a very smart man and he didn’t get it either. His comment was, “You owe two films for that one.” So I’ll probably be at a shoot-‘em-up soon.
On a positive note the sets were stunning, the trailer didn’t lie, and I loved the costumes. Adam Driver delivered a lovely Hamlet’s soliloquy although I’m not sure why it was included. The actors did the best they could, but the script was a self-indulgent mish-mash of philosopher’s quotes. I know the script writers probably wanted to show off how smart they were (“See? I’ve read all this stuff!”) but the movie would have been better off with a coherent plot.
Oh, and the popcorn was fresh. Only problem was the A/C. I forgot to bring my sweatshirt and I almost froze to death. Gave me an excuse to cuddle with Gordon. We made out in the back row like teenagers! That was more fun than the movie.