Ah, Quentin Tarantino, one of the directors I have the most mixed feelings about. As a rule, I take his name as a warning yet find his movies pretty good, if typically overrated. Why make this the second Best Picture nominee I see for the year? Well, it happened to be showing at a convenient time for me, I didn't trust either parent to want to watch with me, and I'd already watched the 1994 adaptation of Little Women twice.
Set chiefly in 1969, OUaTiH follows Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), former star of a western TV series; and Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), his buddy and former stunt double. The biggest contrast between them is in how they handle the decline of their careers: Rick cries at the realization of it and then struggles to recover, but Cliff is content to have become something of a butler to him. Also, Rick hates hippies while Cliff takes an interest in one of them -- until he discovers just how unruly she and her friends are. They are the Manson Family....
That cult does not account for the only real-life entities represented herein. Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) sometimes even has a focal role, while Roman Polanski (Rafał Zawierucha) shows up just a little. We also get Bruce Lee (Mike Moh), Steve McQueen (Damian Lewis), Mama Cass (Rachel Redleaf), and a bunch of others less familiar to me. After all, anyone to have starred on a hit program is bound to hobnob with other famous people.
Just for bleeps and giggles, I counted the censorable words: nearly 200, about the same as Good Will Hunting. (An exact figure would require more clarity when more than one person at a time is speaking.) They mostly come in waves, so many minutes can pass without any. Thankfully, none are racial or ethnic slurs. Indeed, the only hints at character racism are some old-time Hollywood-style westerns and a piece of advice not to cry in front of Mexicans.
I also checked my watch the first time a woman showed the soles of her bare feet, about an hour in. Two more followed suit. Tarantino can be so predictable in some ways.
If there's one thing I like better about this flick than the rest of Tarantino's oeuvre, it's the soundtrack. I can't say there's a single standout number, like "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" for Pulp Fiction or "Across 110th Street" for Jackie Brown, but there's quite a collection. (The numerous cinematic and television references, meanwhile, range from classics to largely forgotten duds.)
I also appreciate that OUaTiH probably has Tarantino's lowest body count, disregarding the TV/movie-within-a-movie deaths. Still gets fairly brutal, tho. A couple of fight/beating scenes occur at midway points, always involving Cliff, whose level of badassery is one of the hardest aspects to buy herein. And you who are old enough or educated enough can guess when the "real" deaths begin.
No, the climax doesn't play out nearly the same as in real life. Tarantino loves to rewrite history with a wink at the audience. Nor does the story feel like it's all building up to that fateful night, akin to Carrie's prom. It's still about Rick and Cliff first and foremost.
Actually, that points to the story's biggest weakness: lack of a tight focus. A long while can pass without much plot progression or new revelations about characters. Oh, it's never boring or all that confusing, but I feel a little cheated with red herrings. Tarantino scrapped his plans for parallel arcs like in PF rather late in the process.
Of course, since comedy is listed among the genres, we half-expect an enhanced degree of unconventionality. Does it succeed at being funny? Eh, maybe my theater was too empty; I didn't hear many chuckles. For my part, I recall being more tickled by Django Unchained, which is strictly categorized as drama.
I could blame the casting of DiCaprio, who hasn't had much practice with humorous roles and who projects less of one than Pitt. But neither did I find myself all that moved by the more serious elements. The problem might be that by including a glut of cliches, Tarantino fails to make us see the characters as real enough to care about.
Does OUaTiH stand a chance at the Oscars? Possibly. The Academy does have a soft spot for films that explore show business. Would I recommend it? To casual Tarantino viewers like me and my dad, maybe. Bigger fans may be disappointed, and non-fans are liable to find it OK at best.
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