- Sensibility: The film is all about wild coincidences, so some unreasonable things happening is par for the course.
- Cinematography: Lots of long-format, oner style shots that demonstrate the acting, dialogue, and blocking prowess of the film. Production design and costuming are solid, helping to give life to all the odd-ball characters. However, editing choices make the film drag in ways it doesn't need to.
- Energy: The strength of the dialogue, characters, and acting performances from the whole cast give the film life and keeps things entertaining even when narrative choices weight things down.
- Narrative: A parallel storyline film unlike any other. However, the interconnectedness/coincidental nature of the stories isn't as well linked as the first two narrated in the beginning of the film. By the end, it feels like three separate stories tangentially linked. A song interlude is a particularly jarring choice that doesn't seem to fit well with the rest of the film, especially because most of the film is intended to be taken at face value. Brilliant character design and excellent dialogue writing are the cornerstones of this film.
- T-Points: The film received three bonus points: one for an introductory conversation between a cop and a drug addict, one for a brilliant performance and character design for Tom Cruise's manosphere Frank Mackey, a character which has profound relevance even today, and one for a great scene where a son sees his father for the last time.
Not my favorite PTA by a long-shot, but for this to be my least favorite says just how good the rest of his films are.
Number of Watches: 2
