Fluentiama Perfect cast and a good story

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

ChampDavSlim The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

alan-nutter Warning – this review contains major spoilers – please do not read on if you do not wish to made aware of a key aspect of the film.I find it hard to believe that this movie has not been rated more highly by both IMDb users and the critics of the time.I deliberately entitled this review The JP Method - it is one of the most well produced examples of method acting ever captured.Joaquin Phoenix inhabited an obnoxious caricature of himself for two years whilst making this movie both in public and in private. His performance was so good that he managed to fool many people into thinking that he was having a very public meltdown.Yes there were a few cast members that were made aware of the movie's intentions, but it would not have succeeded without these people.My rating is based more on this impressive, sustained piece of method acting than on the movie itself, as I believe it's a fairly unique achievement.The proof of success is that the only award the film received was a "Documentary" award from the Venice Film Festival. Surely that is the greatest recognition of this method acting that it fooled people who make a living within the movie industry.Even if you ignored my early warning and have not yet seen the movie, if you are interested in acting and cinema, I would still recommend that you watch. I myself was already aware of the facts behind the movie before I sat down for a viewing and possibly found it all the more fascinating as a result.I find it astonishing that a recognised actor would risk playing a part like this which required such real life public humiliation.

callumbainbridge At first I thought this film was about Phoenix trying to fool the world into thinking he was becoming a rapper, but about halfway through it seemed that Phoenix was playing a character that wanted to fool the world and was failing. His behaviour becomes increasingly erratic and volatile as he makes himself and everyone around him look like an idiot. I don't know what kind of person could put so many other people through such uncomfortable situations for the sake of a film, and laugh in the face of a public who genuinely think a great actor has been lost (for whatever reasons) and has turned into a bit of a prick, but although the film is made at the expense of the public, Phoenix's acquaintances and Phoenix's figure, I considered this movie worthwhile, if only to point out that it's all an act really, just some are better at acting.

Claire B I went into this movie thinking it would be pretty funny since it was a mockumentary of sorts. Parts of the movie, especially scenes with Antony or the bits where you actually get to hear Joaquin's music, were hilarious. Especially the music--I had to re-watch one of his songs a few times, it was just such a great scene.But, the thing is, a lot of it is the type of humor you'd expect from a Jackass movie or something similar--very teenage-boy kind of humor, if you know what I mean. I think if you are in any way prudish, or easily disturbed, this film is definitely not for you.Overall, it was a pretty good movie and I'm glad I saw it. Some of the acting was a bit overdone in my opinion, and at some points, it was easy to see that the film was scripted, but it's a pretty funny movie that reveals a lot of (sometimes shocking) truths about being a celebrity, and it makes it more clear as to why celebrities do some of the crazy things that they sometimes do.

ecvespertine A performance in a poorly written story. Casey Affleck and Joaquin focused to much on the character development and not enough on writing. The final edit comes together like some loosely joined college art film. The interviews from Casey Affleck make him sound like you are stuck on a date with an untalented musician talking about their new album. Very similar to Joaquin's character in fact. I really don't think there is much that is special about this film, except some individual sequences. These shots strung together make for a poor story. The fact I walked away from a movie not feeling for or identifying with the character, did interest me, but all in a negative way. Shouldn't the reader/viewer be able to identify with the character and their struggles. This just makes both Affleck and Phoenix (and perhaps all of Hollywood) come off as more disconnected from reality then the people they are making films for. To think that their is such a circle that no matter how unsuccessful your endeavors are that there really is no consequences for certain people. They always have their PR team and an entourage telling them their crap doesn't stink to fall back on, and when all else fails you can fly home to Daddy on a private jet.