Here's what I thought before seeing it:
"Should be good for a chuckle, à la Raising Arizona or City Slickers with a tinge of Bad Times at the El Royale.
And I'm glad he gets Whataburger in there, or poor ol' Novak would be oh-so-unkosherly kebabbed at the stake or, perhaps even worse, go the way of the Panhandle (as so eloquently described in 2011's cult-fave, Bernie).
Whichever way you go, the show's barely 94 minutes long, so dontcha drive too far to see it, ya hear?!?"
And here's what I think now that I have seen it:
It's smart and well-written, none of which comes as a surprise. It's also incredibly on-point as a social commentary about our vapid, self-absorbed times in which everyone believes his/her life merits a podcast and opinions consistently trump facts. That's the good news.
The bad news is that I left feeling really discouraged and somehow kinda icky. It's incredibly bleak (or at least to me it was). Dawn and Lauren liked it a lot, thought it was way better than I did, all of which surprised me, so chalk that up as a win!
I thought Ashton Kutcher (who is nails on a chalkboard for me) would be making a very brief cameo, but he's 25% of the film, which makes lots of it unwatchable.
And whereas I thought it would be "a funny, snarky, good-spirited comedic romp with a murder in the middle," nope, it's 90% serious, sobering, and heady.
All this to say, I'll likely see it again in my home, but when I do I shall course-correct my expectations 180-degrees.
Like I always say, "The most common root cause of disappointment in life is missed expectations," so now that I've changed those, I hope to enjoy it next time.
