Oy vey! I really wanted this movie to be good. I had heard only good things about it and I've wanted to see Adam Sandler do serious roles ever since Punch-Drunk Love.
But I don't know, man. This whole spiel of an asshole schmuck who is also unlucky didn't really click with me. For starters, I didn't really buy the "charistmatic" bit that is mentioned in the synopsis, the lead character talks a lot of shit but I'm not sure how does that amount to "charismatic".
Also, none of the characters was likeable, every character had at least one thing that made you hate them or be annoyed at them, least of all the main character who is an asshole and one annoying fuck, it makes it really hard to root for him, and thus uninterested in whatever journey he is undertaking in the movie.
It didn't help matters much that, for the entirety the movie, everybody is talking over each other, which made it difficult to follow dialogues and got gradually more annoying as the movie progressed. By the time the things got interesting in the third act, I was really prepared for this movie to end.
But, man! things really pick up in the third act and the movie manages to make me root for a guy who was impossible to root for just two seconds ago, I was under the thrall of the movie for the last 15 minutes.
So, in a way, the movie had achieved what it set out to do (if I understood it correctly), but then as the credits rolled, I didn't feel like I took away anything of value from the movie. I was annoyed most of the time, there was nothing outstanding about the movie (Sandler was okay), and while the ending was surprising, it didn't provide me any satisfaction.
I'm kind of torn on how to rate it, but a 6 feels appropriate.
