There are amazing sequences in this film. The score is awesome. Brad Pitt is charming. Tobey Maguire is great. The cinematography and production design are top notch.
But... - It's WAY too long.
- The characters are mostly uninteresting.
- It loses steam after about an hour.
- It starts off "shocking" and decadent only to get rid of that image fairly quickly. (come on, being pissed on isn't shocking. It's only shocking when the man opens his mouth and drinks, like in Salo!)
- It tries to use OTHER movies as its emotional climax
It's basically like Boogie Nights meets Singing in the Rain with a bit of Nickelodeon and Fellini Satyricon but not as good as any of those films.
To me, it feels like there's a good movie in there somewhere but what we have is entirely bloated. I'm sure that...