| D | Austin Film Festival 2025 |
I had high hopes for this movie. I’ve enjoyed all the stars (Chloe Bennett, Phil Dunster, Jennifer Beals) in other projects, and the characters are searching for proof that aliens have visited Earth? I’m in!
I was thoroughly disappointed. Certainly by the script, and possibly by the directing if it influenced the acting.
It felt to me like the road trip could have been through and to anywhere and this would have been the same movie. I did not see any connection at all between all the talk about aliens and whether they exist or not, and the issues the two characters were dealing with. This felt like two different movies fighting each other for screen time.
And the pacing was so slow… Much more dialog than was needed—maybe trying to give the actors more time to “act”? Though a large part of the acting was moping, so much moping… Given the characters’ situations I kind of understand why. But not sure that’s the movie I signed up for.
And why were there two scenes where we watch people place entire meal orders? The characters weren’t interesting enough to pull that off.
Finally, I’m getting tired of the little twist they tried to pull off at the end. It’s overused these days and felt unearned here.
