FilmSnobReviews

Title: Where’d You Go, Bernadette
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Richard Linklater
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup, Kristen Wiig
Runtime: 1 hr 49 mins

What It Is: Bernadette Fox (Blanchett) is a now semi-retired genius of an architect. Her husband Elgie (Crudup) is a work consumed tech magnet. They now live and have lived, in Seattle for the last 15 years and that seems to be getting to Bernadette. As she argues with her neighbor Audrey (Wiig) about the silliest things and when a series of incidence occurs it leads to her straight up leaving her rather cushy life.

What We Think: Despite Cate Blanchett really out here trying her character is just too much of an annoyance. Elgie’s subsequent turn of character was so measured and easy to predict the script even calls it out. Speaking of the script…it’s an utter bore. Linklater feels like he directed this while sleeping. There’s legitimately nothing going on of any interest. It’s an almost annoying film. Like some sort of cinematic gnat buzzing and irritating you in the ears. I’m a notoriously huge fan of Linklater but this is a disappointment in the most grandiose fashion. A bit pretentious but also too simple and dumb to have pretense it’s a weird combination.

Our Grade: C-, Go and watch one of Linklater’s other films from this decade Everybody Wants Some!! or Boyhood. Those are far better at exploring the themes to which they want to explore then this is. It’s a weird shell of a Linklater. One that doesn’t do anything to remind of exactly how good he is. It’s a waste of one of this generation’s best actress in Blanchett and waste in an underrated favorite of mine in Crudup. Where’d you go is the correct question. But not one to ask of Bernadette, no. Ask that of RIchard Linklater.