Like many I got suckered into watching this film from the list of stars and director/writers (esp Tarantino) that participated in this exercise.
I had no idea that it was *this* bad. It starts with the common thread, the bellboy, Tim Roth. It seemed like he was trying to be the British incarnation of Don Knotts trying to be Jerry Lewis. It was one of the most annoying and incomprehensibly bad performances, I've ever seen from a mainstream actor.
He gets no help from what passes for plot. The first two stories seemed like they came from a 10 second pre-improv conference. The third plot was a shaggy dog story that could have worked had it been better executed and the fourth one, Tarantino's, to be fair actually sustained about 5 minutes of interest - unfortunately at the very end of the movie after 90+ minutes of endless torture.
Those last 2 plots might have been worthwhile except for the smarmy self-indulgent performances of the stars. Tarantino is not as nearly as clever or funny as he thinks he is, and neither is Willis. The strongest performance might have been that of Banderas who almost rescued the third segment with his self-mocking playfulness.
Overall, it felt like I was at one of those bad improv theatres where the actors know the only people in the audience are drunk/stoned friends, family and fanboys. If that doesn't describe you - stay far away from this mess. It really is *that* bad.
I had no idea that it was *this* bad. It starts with the common thread, the bellboy, Tim Roth. It seemed like he was trying to be the British incarnation of Don Knotts trying to be Jerry Lewis. It was one of the most annoying and incomprehensibly bad performances, I've ever seen from a mainstream actor.
He gets no help from what passes for plot. The first two stories seemed like they came from a 10 second pre-improv conference. The third plot was a shaggy dog story that could have worked had it been better executed and the fourth one, Tarantino's, to be fair actually sustained about 5 minutes of interest - unfortunately at the very end of the movie after 90+ minutes of endless torture.
Those last 2 plots might have been worthwhile except for the smarmy self-indulgent performances of the stars. Tarantino is not as nearly as clever or funny as he thinks he is, and neither is Willis. The strongest performance might have been that of Banderas who almost rescued the third segment with his self-mocking playfulness.
Overall, it felt like I was at one of those bad improv theatres where the actors know the only people in the audience are drunk/stoned friends, family and fanboys. If that doesn't describe you - stay far away from this mess. It really is *that* bad.