Rubber

Saw Rubber, the film about a tire that somehow comes to life and can explode people's heads. I didn't really like it. It starts off with a speech (which is repeated during the credits) about how entertainment is inherently meaningless and that furthermore life is inherently meaningless. It follows of course that this film is also going to be self-satisfied-ly meaningless. This is not too terribly shocking. Based on the premise alone I had assumed this was going to be an empty romp of weirdness and spectacle, but the film explicitly explains this to an in-film audience, just in case you missed it. This is a worryingly patronizing note to start on, but okay, so we're in for meaningless entertainment. As the film wears on we find that it's lacking both meaning and entertainment, alas.

This film is fairly odd. Head-exploding aside, it's very drawn out and slow. It seems to promise spectacle but nothing too spectacular happens. It's more content to futz about with fourth-wall breaking and obvious commentary on entertainment. It has an irascible entertainer's hatred of the audience, so the perverse lack of bells and whistles makes thematic sense, though it doesn't make it any easier to sit through. It has the feel of an improv skit gone on too long. There are long pauses, illogical shortcuts, a mounting feeling of frustration and desperation, and ultimately no real payoff. I suspect the filmmakers locked themselves in a room and would not come out until they had a script.

I found watching this film more entertaining than watching stupid action films, so it's not awful, but it's not very good either. It's too bad too because the premise seems promising (or novel, or interesting at least) but the reality is just vague, post-modern nose-tweaking. I think the tire sort of gels into a symbol for a dangerous idea by the end (hence the head-exploding and all) but as the movie emphatically states, there may be no real meaning whatsoever, so who knows? This film should have been workshopped a bit more I think.