Mr. Movie review: Call Me By Your Name boring no matter what orientation
The setting is 1983 Italy. Timothee Chalamet is 17-year old Elio. His father is an archeologist who hires 30-something Oliver as his summer intern. He is done by Armie Hammer (The Birth of a Nation).
The boy isn’t sure of his sexual orientation and pushes the not-so-obviously obvious bisexual older man into a very physical relationship.
Call Me by Your Name is being praised by some as the best of 2017. Please don’t accuse me of being a homophobe. I am not. And I don’t dislike other critics, but I think many feel required to give a film rave reviews because the of the theme and sexual orientation involved. Would this movie be that important if the plot centered around a 17-year old girl and a 30-year old man?
In “Me Too” America these days, screams of rape, adult manipulation and grooming of an innocent girl would likely be among the critical complaints. In this case — though it is a little more nuanced — that’s exactly what happens to the boy.
Even worse, at 2 hours, 12 minutes in length, art house fave and director Luca Guadagnino’s (I Am Love) film is actually just a long, drawn out, boring teen angst flick.
Movie name: ‘Call Me By Your Name’
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Stars: Armie Hammer, Timothee Chalamet, Michael Stuhlbarg, Amira Casar
Mr. Movie rating: 2 stars
Rated R for mature themes, nudity, language. It’s playing at the AMC Kennewick 12.
5 stars to 4 1/2 stars: Must see on the big screen.
4 stars to 3 1/2 stars: Good film, see it if it’s your type of movie.
3 stars to 2 1/2 stars: Wait until it comes out on DVD.
2 stars to 1 star: Don’t bother.
0 stars: Speaks for itself.
This story was originally published January 18, 2018 at 5:44 PM with the headline "Mr. Movie review: Call Me By Your Name boring no matter what orientation."