At the time of this writing, Margot Robbie's latest film, Amsterdam, is sitting at just 33% on Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer. And it seems as though that number is just going to go lower.
Despite having a whos-who of an A-list cast, the latest film from controversial director David O'Russell is not hitting home with the critics or audience members. And it's not just because Christian Bale sang alongside Taylor Swift in the film. The film has been deemed "dead on arrival" by Deadline and is slated to lose over $100 million at the box office. Mostly because the consensus is... well... it sucks.
While the cast, which also includes John David Washington, Rami Malek, Anya Taylor Joy, Michael Shannon, Timothy Olyphant, Zoe Saldana, Robert DeNiro, Chris Rock, Mike Myers, and on and on and on, is on point, here are all the reasons why Amsterdam may just be the worst movie of the year...
David O'Russell's Amsterdam Script Isn't Any Good
Film critic Johnny Oleksinski At the New York Post claimed Amsterdam was "the worst movie of the year" and deemed it "unwatchable". In his review, Johnny even claimed that a critic at his screening walked out part-way through. He described him as "the luckiest man in the world".
Ouch.
So, it's clear that he loathed Amsterdam, but why?
While he cited numerous reasons, the New York Post critic lays most of the blame on David O'Russell's directing and, more importantly, his writing.
"There’s nothing the cast could do with the hack-job script Russell has written and the shapeless tone he suddenly prefers," Johnny wrote.
Or as Kristy Pucko wrote for Mashable, "Behind the high energy and flashy cast, there's a shocking lack of emotional depth — like a performer giving us jazz hands paired with a vacant stare."
What Is Amsterdam About?
This appears to be one of the biggest issues critics have with David O'Russell's Amsterdam... they can't figure out what it's about. While Bilge Ebiri at Vulture pointed out that the film is heavy-handed with its theme of brokenness, the rest of the film isn't so clear.
Amsterdam is based (very roughly) on a true story regarding a plot to overthrow the United States government and replace it with a Fascist dictator. While this is an interesting idea, the film moves through far too many plot points, themes, characters, and general concepts that it's really hard to follow.
At least this is what film critic Christy Lemire pointed out in her review at Roger Ebert.com.
"Simultaneously overstuffed and undernourished, frantic and meandering, Amsterdam is one big, star-studded, hot mess of a movie," Christy wrote.
She continued by writing, "Over and over again, I asked myself as I was watching “Amsterdam”: What is this movie about? Where are we going with this? I’d have to stop and find my bearings: What exactly is happening now? And not in a thrilling, stimulating way, as in “Memento,” for example, or “Cats.” It’s all a dizzying piffle—until it stops dead in its tracks and forces several of its stars to make lengthy speeches elucidating the points Russell himself did not make over the previous two rambling hours."
Amsterdam's Star-Studded Cast is Given Nothing To Do
It's not uncommon for movies with an endless slew of A-listers to get criticized for not giving them enough to do. And Amsterdam is no different.
According to Peter Howell at The Toronto Star, no one in Amsterdam gets much to do.
"[Director David O'Russell] crowds the screen with enough A-list talent for an Oscars show, then doesn’t give his stars much to do apart from riffing on multiple genres: everything from screwball comedy to murder mystery to wartime drama to political thriller. Russell makes “ensemble” seem like a dirty word."
Mark Kennedy at Associated Press, who gave the film 0/5 stars, added "Russell wastes [his A-list cast] with pointless dialogue and tedious scenes."
Aside from the main cast, Mark pointed out that the supporting cast fairs equally as poorly.
"Imagine a second tier of roles with Alessandro Nivola, Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Rock, Michael Shannon, Mike Myers, Taylor Swift, Zoe Saldaña, Rami Malek and Robert De Niro. All are left powerless. They are in a charisma-removal machine."
Amsterdam Simply Doesn't Know What It Is
As the other critics pointed out, Amsterdam is a mess of ideas. But the sloppy execution of these ideas is what acclaimed film critic Richard Roeper targeted in his review in the Chicago Sun-Times.
"The social satire is so heavy-handed, the slapstick shtick so awkward, the romance so unconvincing and the exposition so thick, you should congratulate yourself for staying awake for the 134-minute running time, which feels more like a crawling time.," Richard wrote. "Amsterdam flails all over the place in terms of tone and style, before eventually landing smack in the middle of nowhere."
