5 Critically Acclaimed Films That Fail The Gene Siskel Test

1. Synecdoche New York (2008)

I used to like Charlie Kaufman. I used to like him a lot. Unfortunately, this film has soured my opinion of him to the point where I am not sure he can ever be redeemed in my eyes. This is what happens when a successful screenwriter is given free reign to do whatever he wants for his directorial debut. We get Kaufman Gone Wild. Clearly, there was no one telling him, €œCharlie, you have some fascinating ideas but you€™re going to have to dial them back a bit if you want your audience to understand the characters€™ situation and sympathize with them. As it is, the script is a mess and practically unfilmable. A page one rewrite is needed ASAP.€ The result is an incoherent, pretentious, dreary, repetitive, disjointed, confusing, off-putting, depressing, nonsensical and wrongheaded pile of claptrap. I would be infinitely more pleased to watch Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Michelle Williams, Samantha Morton, Emily Watson and Dianne Wiest discuss the intricacies of early 20th century Brazilian architecture while eating tacos than I would watching this sorry excuse for cinema.