FilmSnobReviews

Title: The Last Thing He Wanted
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Dee Rees
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Ben Affleck, Rosie Perez
Runtime: 1 hr 55 mins

What It Is: D.C. journalist Elena McMahon (Hathaway) gets in over her head when she decides to help out her father Dick (Willem DaFoe) with a situation. This situation just so happens to put her at odds with a story she’s trying to write. Making her a part of the narrative she’s never imagined she would be. Almost as if the story is unfolding in a way her writing would have never been able to craft without this mistaken experience.

What We Think: Going into this my whole perception of the film stemmed from the reactions of my fellow critics from Sundance. Ooo boy they weren’t lyin’. The entirety of this film is a mess. Structurally it held together by quicksand. Anne Hathway looks confused by this. By the entire film, by its script. Everything. Affleck does what in this? There’s just nothing to this. The decent source material is literally blown up in a bevy of confusingly bad direction and an overly dense screenplay. Some of the dialogue is a bit too…weighted for what it is.

Our Grade: D, This is a REALLY big miss for Dee Rees. Coming off of Mudbound there were expectations. Those expectations were certainly not met. Whatever that problem was that caused this thing to fall flat on its face it severely stopped Rees’ momentum. Whatever she does next, and I’ve heard conversations about what it might or might not be, is going to need to be a real killer. As for this Netflix flop maybe skip it. It’s by far not the worst thing that Sundance will bring us…looking at you Tesla. Nor is it the worst thing Netflix will bring I am sure.