Visioneers (2008)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Such a frustrating disappointment

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Spoilers ahead. The ending of this fine film is a big problem. They pasted "true love (i.e. good sex) conquers all" on the end of a really, really well-done surreal exploration of employment in Amerika. I have to take points away for that horrible decision. I'm going to assume that some corporate nitwit pasted it one there. Too bad. This coulda' been a contender.But until that ending you have something good. It's not really a comedy and I don't blame anyone for being upset that this "funny" movie wasn't funny, but Hollywood is so brain-dead that if it isn't "drama" it's "comedy." So this is called a "comedy" but it's really an example of surrealism. The stuff in here reflects the real world in insane/stupid/hopeless Amerikan corporate-land where every good deed is punished and all power belongs to the group of seventeen.God I hate this reality. The film fishes around in it a little and you end up wishing that David Lynch (or somebody) would really rip a new one out of corporate rat-racing red-white-and-blue nasty old smelly McMansion SUV scummy middle hopeless class Amerikan Nightmare Land. Where Fred and Barney compete to see who wins the ultimate sneaking around behind management's back award for Snitch of the Year and Ultimate Ninja Brown Nose-san. Disgusting. If you do not understand what's wrong with this culture, and do not like or understand this movie, then you fit in well with unthinking, unliving, unknowing business as usual for dummies. Glad somebody is having a good time! Enjoy! A Jeffers day to you!I just wish they hadn't put that miserable ending on this great film. Really, really a bad thing to do. Double plus ungood.

Well, that was... something. If at first you might have hope that this will be a nice surreal flick then all those hopes are dashed as the film slowly drags its feet wearing down your patience. Towards the end the main character walks around like a zombie without saying a word or giving any sign of human emotion as it all moves slowly to an ending you no longer care about.Problem is there is not enough story for even a one hour and thirty minute long film. It has got often heard clichés about the corporate world and suburbia but does nothing new or interesting with them. Whatever humor it has in the beginning it exchanges for being utterly depressive.But Visioneers biggest sin is that it's just plain boring. It's the cardinal sin of movies and the biggest source of my low score. At some point I wondered had I actually fallen asleep and what I was seeing now was just some fever dream.Overall, the premise is interesting and its what made me want to watch it, but it delivers nothing that you would expect.

Watching people being ridiculously bored have never been as funny... Or has it? Or wait... Is this even funny at all? Is it supposed to be?Needless to say, this is not your typical laugh by the minute comedy... I think it's meant as a comedy, cause it's hardly dramatic... Dark or/and dry comedy perhaps... Anyway, I get what the movie is trying to say and I think the message is a good one.I just don't care much for how it was said, and I don't think it has enough substance to fill out the 90 minute running time.Not terrible, but really not that great either.

I guess my review is kind of biased - if I had never seen the Hangover, I would have probably not enjoyed the movie as much as I did. Somehow ZG seems to be exuding the right kind of vibes for this year or something. Visoneers reminded me of a plethora of American movies - Hudsucker, Brazil, 1984 - all mixed into one in a somewhat subdued, indie approach. If you haven't seen any of those movies this movie would strike you odd as it is one to convey a meaning much similar to the J-horror of Kurosawa. Considering the strangeness of the movie I expected the end to be somewhat living up to it, but this is where it kind of veers back to normality which I think may have been done for a proper distribution. If you want to watch it for ZG or have a penchant for movies that make you think go ahead full steam, otherwise just wait for the next ZG one, now that he's almost famous. For attempting to make a movie like this and picking ZG before he was famous, this movie gets my 7/10.