User Reviews

Really don't know what to say about this film, and not sure if I understand the agenda. Is it funny? No.

I enjoyed the first part with Brice Dern, the rest is questionable.

Do I understand the title? No Is this film important? Hell, no!

An interesting premise, but the film falls completely flat. Dorothy never grows or becomes truly likable at any point. Unlike Doc Hollywood or My Cousin Vinny, Dorothy never really comes to respect her hometown or warm to its inhabitants. Midway through, the film also hints that the bullying of Dorothy wasn't necessarily one-sided, but it never delves any further and Dorothy doesn't reflect on any mistakes she might have made. Worse, she starts and ends the film manically spewing unfounded assertions and spouting slogans. Dorothy remains a schemer throughout the campaign, so she never moderates or compromises on her far left environmentalism nor does she manage to learn what folks on the Right think. In short, you're far better off watching a political comedy like The Campaign, where the two main characters aren't political stereotypes and neither is entirely good or entirely bad.

The basic premise of this movie is that all republicans are closet liberals. They make that point very subtly, I'll give them that. Pick a hot button topic and this movie brings it up and attempts to prove the liberal agenda is correct.

I hardly ever do movie reviews but this one was so bad, I feel compelled. It was advertised on Hulu as a comedy, and the movie "poster" looked silly. Husband and I were just hoping for something light hearted but this was not it. Unfortunately, my husband has a problem leaving any movie unfinished, so it played through. Honestly, I would have turned it off if I was watching it alone. I couldn't tell (still don't know) if it was supposed to be sarcasm, a spoof, or a true depiction of how individuals within the party system behave. There's plenty of other things out there on Hulu to spend your time on, so I recommend passing over this one.

I read all the reviews and was not at all surprised to find a lot of them polarized on real world politics instead of independent film story line politics. On both sides, I might add!! I thought about adding a star for all the haters and then decided not to do that. To me, it was a 6.5. And I rounded up. I always round up.

I do not understand the name of the movie, but won't share my thoughts on it here, because, it doesn't matter.

The movie!! It was a movie about a young politico growing up and accepting her adult position in a town that she grew up in, left, and returned to even though she hated it. Once she got back, she found herself figuring out ways to help her friends and help the town keep its old town charm.

You also see that a hella lot of political animals, no matter what button or color they wear are the same as everyone else. And that no one is perfect. Just like no movie or film is perfect.

Is it a laugh out loud movie? No. Is it a quiet movie? Yes. Will you like everything about it? Absolutely no - not unless you are Joey Ally who had all the hats on during the making of it.

If you are hyper political - don't watch it. You won't like it at all. Save yourself the time.

You can tell they're not going to get along. There's going to be manufactured drama. And she's not going to fit into her home town. It's going to be a whinge-fest full of complaints and nonsense to bring everyone down.

Dorothy is a sincere and well-informed climate activist. After being arrested at a protest, she's laid off from her political writing job for a mainstream, corporate kind of Democrat. Dorothy is more authentic, passionate and overall more leftist than the people she's been working for and clearly doesn't belong in corporate mainstream politics. So...she moves back to her childhood home, a small town in Texas, because she thinks her talents are being wasted where she is. How she comes to this conclusion is a bit sketchy, BUT in reality a lot of liberal Americans with the financial ability to do so have moved to Red and "Purple" states to try to liberalize the culture there away from a Republican stranglehold. Presumably, this is Dorothy's goal.

Instead she embarks on a campaign as a faux Republican because she finds a state loophole in Texas that would allow the Dem candidate to win if she wins as a Republican and withdraws at the last second. Obviously, it's something so hair-brained that it could only be the plot of a fictional movie. Over the course of The Hater, Dorothy learns that the women in her town, at least, aren't actually homophobic, hateful or pro-life. Instead she discovers kind, genuine people who are locked into some kind of conservative nightmare who would break free from that view given half a chance.

I think there's some truth to that reasoning, especially with wives of conservative men in Red states having been pressured to vote Republican just because their husband does. The movie makes it's point, but its done in a clumsy and unrealistic way. I enjoyed the first half of the film more so than the second, especially the end.

40 minutes into this movie and I had a wild guess that the lead of the movie must be the writer and director. I have never seen her before, and it seemed to be a semi-amature vanity production. Sure enough, she wrote, directed and stars in this ridiculous movie. As of the 40 minute mark, it is not even remotely funny, and Dorothy's behavior is simply anxiety inducing. Done.

I get it, the beginning was very tense and the protagonist was annoyingly angry. She was supposed to be. The chemistry that the actors have with each other is excellent, and there absolutely is character development/growth for Dorothy. Dorothy does actually reflect on her mistakes and does end up listening to her R opponent, her campaign manager (R), her grandfather (R).

Ok, so I admittedly didn't watch the whole movie. It was being advertised as a comedy. Comedies are supposed to make you laugh. I sat through 45 min of the movie and did not laugh once, not even a smirk. I don't know nor care about the political themes here. It was just a really bad, unfunny movie.

Now I suppose there's a chance that after 45 min, the movie does a complete 180 and turns funny. But it's doubtful. Don't watch. The 10 star reviews are from crew members.

Great movie. Main character seemed annoying at first but does a good job overall. Would have loved it if it mentioned neoliberal donors owning both parties. But its nice to have movies like this as a conservative could never run a grass roots campaign in real life without any large donors as we rely on those. But other than that nicely done. As an open minded conservative this movie does a great job trying to appeal to everyone.

Great premise and real and really heartfelt script. In the end Dorothy does warm up to her hometown, she learns exactly how the folks on the right think and she reflects on the parts she may have played in her childhood bullying as well as is also confronted with a little bit of bullying she may have done of her own. Dorothy's character is transformed and completely evolved by the end of the story. EXCELLENT MOVIE!!

I loved it! The script gets a lot of things right: if you've ever been back home (especially to Texas) without really wanting to be back home, you'll feel a special kinship with Dorothy. The scenes between writer/director/star Joey Ally and Bruce Dern, who is apparently uncredited here, are fantastic. They have great comedic timing together and also share a warmth that is essential to us buying their relationship. You won't regret watching this movie.

So, so smart and funny, so we'll acted, with skilled performers. No annoying stereotypical trajectories or characters, which would have been too easy or obvious (the requisite romance or corrosive dysfunction, rather than real relationships that evolve into something better and truer). Above all, a critically important exploration of blurring polarized political lines, fearlessly, and yes with humour, raising the most vital issues today: climate change, a woman's right to choose, gun control etc. I was shocked that Roger Ebert totally failed to appreciate the many nuances of this film, he lost the plot , man. And NO I'm not a friend with anyone on this film, I saw it on Kanopy in Canada and I wish Netflix would distribute this brilliant wonderful piece of relevant art.

Enjoyed The Hater very much. Excellent cast. I thought Ian Harding was absolutely brilliant. I hope the film will be very successful, it deserves to be. Highly recommend.

A super timely comedy for the current political climate. As far as satire goes, skip Don't Look Up, and watch The Hater. As a human in 2022, this story is so relatable, real, and relevant. Cast & crew do a fantastic job bringing this story to life. Go see this movie, an outstanding feature debut for Ally as a multi-hyphenate.

The entire cast did an incredible job bringing the story to life. Joey Ally and Bruce Dern's granddaughter and grandfather banter is one of the real highlights, as is the movie's score as each song perfectly accentuates the emotional tug of each scene. And while the nuanced characters and purposely over the top plot twists make the story unique, it's themes and message are universal.