Review: The Last Thing He Wanted

But is it the last thing SHE wanted?

Elena McMahon (Anne Hathaway) is a reporter who used to spend most of her time in Central America cracking stories with her fellow journalist, Alma Guerrero (Rosie Perez) but now her desk has been frozen and she's regulated to the campaign trail for Ronald Regan's second run as president. Her sketchy father (Willem DaFoe) falls ill and begs her to complete a job for him. Bored with the assignment she's been given, she helps her father as it puts her right back into the place that she wanted to be. 

Or something.

Honestly, I need someone to explain this movie to me like I'm five because I had a hard time following it. I'm not quite sure why either, this movie should've been very straightforward. But with every new bit of information, I kept questioning how Elena got to where she was or why she was doing it in the first place. Which is funny, because she asks herself these very same questions in the opening voice over. There are several times she has these epiphanies, and you can tell by the score that you too are supposed to be having an "aha" moment along with her, but at that point I had been given so much new information that I completely forgot what she was doing 15 minutes ago.

This bums me out to write because I love director Dee Rees. I've never disliked a film of hers and even though this is getting terrible reviews, I wanted to watch it and I hoped I would come out on the other side but that wasn't the case. The constant info dumps, the choppy editing. There's a scene with Ben Affleck's character where the camera cuts to so many different angles within the span of about 1 minute that I almost wonder if it's an allegory to the film as a whole. It's just a mess.

The actors are good. Anne Hathaway carries the film well. I wish Rosie Perez was in it more. Ben Affleck's character perplexes me but I suppose he was solid as the man he played. I liked the sets and how it really looked and felt like it was in the 80's. I hope this isn't a road bump on Ree's career, and that she moves on to the next best thing. We all stumble sometimes.

Recommended: No

Grade: C-

Memorable Quote: "We were young. I was young." - Elena McMahon (Anne Hathaway)