For some reason Matthew McConaughey has had two back-to-back movies where he loves fishing.
A rebellious stoner named Moondog lives life by his own rules
So here we are, it’s April of 2019 and one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, Matthew McConaughey has starred in not one but two experimental films. He sure knows how to pick em these days, because both films have been simply not my cup of tea. Here we have The Beach Bum, an incoherent, psychedelic trip, that at times feels pretty meaningless. When I say this wasn’t my cup of tea, it’s because, I don’t think this was a terrible movie, in fact, it’s a beautifully shot film. The landscapes and cinematography throughout it are stunning and much like Spring Breakers, it’s pretty gorgeous to look at. Director Harmony Korine has a certain style in his films, and either it’s going to be for you, or you will honestly end up hating it. I found myself lying somewhere in the middle.
Let’s wind the clocks all the way back to the classic that is Dazed & Confused. Remember Wooderson, the iconic character that dear old Matthew plays. Well within the first few minutes of this, I said to myself, this is who Wooderson would have been all grown up. This is just a classic McConaughey performance. No one else could have played this role, I feel like this part was written for him. So Moondog as they call him was once this great poet and now, well he’s the definition of a burn out. A genius one at that, but all Moondog does is drink, do drugs and have sex. I can’t really explain Moondog, he’s just someone you need to experience for yourself. It’s a one of a kind type of role, where you can get immersed into this character, but at the same time he can get on your nerves quickly. He surrounds himself with quite the band of misfits as well. We got Snoop Dogg, well pretty much being Snoop. Isla Fisher as his horny as all hell wife. I’ll say that I actually thought they played so well off one another and whenever they were on screen together, I think that was the most enjoyable part of the movie for me. Sprinkle in a little Zac Efron, Martin Lawrence and Jonah Hill, yes Jonah Hill is in The Beach Bum. Doing perhaps one of the most accents I’ve ever heard. I know he must be doing on purpose, but it’s so bad and over the top, that it takes you out of it, every time he opens his mouth.
The cast is just a bunch of misfit characters, Zac Efron has panini sideburns, Martin Lawrence loves Dolphins and sails a boat for tourists. It’s all very weird and I know that’s Harmony’s style. I felt after watching this movie that none of the people in this movie had a soul. No one knew the difference between right and wrong. It was odd. Essentially something tragic happens to Moondog and he needs to write his novel in order to regain his life. Nothing really happens, it’s one scene after another of Moondog stumbling around, laughing, drinking, that’s really about it. I was so confused because I thought there would be more to this thing than that. You’ll laugh a lot, there’s a sequence that involved a bunch of homeless dudes and Moondog which cracked me up. There’s also a parrot that is addicted to cocaine, I can’t believe I just wrote that sentence out, but here we are.
There’s just so little to The Beach Bum, is just something you need to go see for yourself. There’s not enough to talk about because I’ll just spoil the whole thing for you. If you like McConaughey go see it. If you’re a fan of the director this will be right up your alley. But there’s just so little meat on these bones it’s hard to digest. Just set a record for my shortest review.
Nate’s Movie Tour Reviews – The Beach Bum = 62/100