Suburbicon – 3 out of 5
The trailer for Suburbicon looked like a great dark comedy. It also had a lot of great ingredients working in its favor. You got Matt Damon in the lead role and Julianne Moore and Oscar Isaac in supporting parts. There’s also the fact it was directed and co-written by George Clooney. Finally, the Coen brothers were the other writers along for the ride. This one seemed like a sure thing but I ended up feeling pretty blah and middle-of-the-road towards it.
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| It's really hard to not do the Team America Matt Damon voice when you look at him...especially in those glasses. |
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| No joke caption here. Just wanted to say that Noah Jupe was really good in this one. |
On the edge of the 1950s exists a small, idyllic suburban town called Suburbicon. Amidst city-wide panic over an African-American family moving into the neighborhood, a mystery befalls Gardner Lodge (Damon) and his family. One night, two men invade their home and end up killing Gardner’s wife; Rose (Moore). Rose’s sister; Margaret (also Moore), ends up moving into the home not long after the incident in order to take care of the traumatized son; Nicky (Noah Jupe). Things start to get frightening as an insurance investigator comes sniffing around and Gardner is visited by dangerous men and poor little Nicky is stuck in the middle and unprepared for how his own life may be in danger.
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| It doesn't count as Spoilers for me to tell you that these two are bad guys, right? I mean, just look at them and you know they aren't the film's protagonists. |
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| It's impossible to not be in love with Isaac, right? I mean he's talented and a damn dreamboat. |
Suburbicon isn’t a terrible movie. It’s well acted, has a decent premise going for it and it looks great. There is this vibe that really captures the era but also has a Hitchcockian essence that compliments the mystery elements. In fact, I was completely invested in the film for pretty much its entire running length. Hell, I was able to overlook that the mystery was incredibly obvious and the story and plot don’t offer up anything really surprising or shocking because mostly everything about this one was just blending very well. However, there is one thing that really hurt the feature and really made this movie kinda forgettable.
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| You know what? Moore is pulling off that Stepford Wife look. |
The film incorporates a side conflict in the form of the white citizens of Suburbicon getting their undies in a twist over a black family moving in. While this is an interesting idea to explore considering the era the film takes place, the problem occurs is that it never really feels like it belongs with Gardner and his family’s ordeal and their journey. There’s plenty between these two stories where one could find parallels or why they exist together in this film—for example, the focus on the racial prejudices of the time blind the townspeople to the white family involved in their own crime—but nothing I could come up with really feels like it makes these two stories play well and mesh together. Separately, they both work but, together, they felt like I was flipping back and forth between two films. Neither tale really felt like they were actively together in the same feature.
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| Gross, it looks like a Trump rally. |
Suburbicon doesn’t feel like a very balanced film. It’s hampered by feeling incredibly predictable and it’s a tad on the sloppy side. However, it has quite a bit that makes it a really good movie. Matt Damon is great in it (yes, I can separate the art from the artist who always seems to say stupid things to the media), Julianne Moore is amazing and the rest of the cast really delivers. Additionally, the film looks great and the score really compliments the tale. I really wanted to like this film more and, with all the talent both in front of and behind the camera, I expected more from it. For what it is, it’s not terrible but it definitely should have been a lot better than it turned out.
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