The reviews have come in for celebrated “Columbus” and “After Yang” director Kogonada’s new romance-fantasy feature “A Big, Bold, Beautiful Journey” and sadly ‘beautiful’ is not the word for them.
With 36 reviews counted, the R-rated film starring Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell sits at just 56% on Rotten Tomatoes. On Metacritic it’s at an even more woeful 41/100 from 19 reviews.
In the film, two single strangers meet at a mutual friend’s wedding and, through a surprising twist of fate, find themselves able to re-live important moments from their respective pasts – illuminating how they got to where they are in the present… and possibly getting a chance to alter their futures.
Here’s a sampling of reviews:
“The unreality of the film never quite equates to dishonesty about what exactly happens when two people not in the first flush of youth decide to be in love, but it takes an effort of will to suspend disbelief and submit to a well-intentioned fantasy.” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
“Kogonada channels something, often in the replication of the works of Jacques Demy and Hayao Miyazaki. Yet, it isn’t enough when the central dynamic at its core fails to elicit the yearning spirit that makes any viewer hopelessly head over heels.” – Giovanni Lago, Next Best Picture
“Kogonada neither wrote nor edited A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, and so we’re largely lacking in the sophistication department, or the soft musicality he’s been able to construct in his earlier films.” – Clarisse Loughrey, The Independent
“The film rests squarely on Farrell and Robbie. They have chemistry and a guiding hand in Kogonada, but ultimately A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is undone by a syrupy, over-romanticized screenplay untempered by the director’s usual delicacy and restraint.” – Rodrigo Perez, The Playlist
“Though occasionally inventive and affecting, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is a tonal mess. Romantic and other emotional struggles depicted may ring true, but that and strong lead performances can’t save the uneven whole.” – Lou Thomas, Empire
“A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is miscalculated as a romance and a fantasy, and while I’m loath to blame a craftsman as intelligent as Kogonada entirely for the outcome, he did, after all, agree to direct this lousy script. A big, bold, beautiful bore indeed.” – Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire
“For all I know, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey actually takes place on the Holodeck of the Starship Enterprise, so phony is everything contained within it.” – Richard Lawson, THR
The film, budgeted at over $60 million and which Sony spent a further $50 million to acquire, is reportedly on track for a rather poor $7-8 million debut this weekend.
