matthewcutchen’s review published on Letterboxd:
For being a movie I’ve heard referenced so many times, this was much different than I expected.
I feel like movies (esp. ones that set out primarily to entertain) have gotten so self-aware that it isn’t fun or funny or entertaining to me (at least for the most part). And I do realize that is more about personal taste, than actual quality. But I was worried that my experience would be weakened here just for the fact that this movie is what really kicked off that meta/self-aware genre thing that has gotten to an extreme point of diminishing returns for me in my life right now.
But nope!
THIS WAS AMAZING.
All the elements just worked. Perfect entertainment genre. Funny but didn’t undercut the story and characters. Felt actual suspense and fear.
Maybe the most surprising thing was it having much more of a sense of “realism” than I expected, which is probably why it worked so well. Not to say “realistic”, but despite all the references to movies and how they work, all of that seemed to actually come from an honest place for the characters. And despite the campiness of the content, the characters never felt like they were winking, and the emotional moments felt strangely understated—at least for what kind movie it was—which I was a huge fan of.
Loved it.
