User Reviews

I just watched the entire four and half hours (I think I saw all the plots!) of various stories and so I feel that I have a better understanding of this picture than some of the reviews I have read both on here and online in general.

I can see how people would be polarized over this little indie flick. When you play the instructions, it warns you that the choices that you make will effect the genre and the character. And it is true.

As the film allowed me to choose what happens next, I noticed that at first I wanted to play it conservative, as I figured going the "safe" route would be more interesting. I did in fact, get a rather traditional story that hid behind a weird animated style (only about 30 minutes of the disc had this style, btw).

Some parts I liked, others I wasn't as into. Then I hit the "back button" and started seeing what happened if I had chosen the other option instead. This is when it threw me for a loop. THE ENTIRE GENRE CHANGED! The writing the style, the acting style, even the visual style.

The instructions didn't lie. When I made choices that were selfish, the lead character acted like a total moron. I hated him! I had no empathy for him! I wanted him to die! He turn into a real douche to be honest. And when I made choices that were wiser, he came off as more level headed and charming. I figured out after about an hour and a half that I wasn't just choosing what happened. I was choosing who this guy was. And that's when I started to realize that there was more than meets the eye going on here.

The downside is, I didn't like every plot that I chose. Some of them, quite honestly angered me. But others were really smart and funny.

I have read young bloggers tromp this as brilliant, which I think is a stretch. I have read old grouchy critics write that this is terrible. Yet the plots that they bring up and mention show that they didn't play through more that a couple times and that they hadn't really figured out what was going on with this.

I read one review online that said it was a "moraless film that cheer leads destructive behavior" and another that said the film was "preachy and played like a just say no video". Obviously, they didn't use the back button to see that one choice lead the character to behave like a psycho and the other choice made him get on his moral high horse. Essentially, the lazy viewers missed the joke.

You don't have to watch all of the plots to enjoy the movie. After about an hour I found myself pretty much addicted, once I figured out what the filmmakers were actually up to.

For example at the beginning (this isn't much of a spoiler) you choose between work and club. If he goes to work, he rambles about how empowered we are in making our own decisions. If he goes to club, he rambles about how we are just a product of our environments and don't choose anything.

He justifies every one of the viewers decisions in the same way humans do! It takes awhile to catch onto this, but once you do, it become pretty hilarious to see how the filmmakers are revealing the way humans tend to be able to justify anything they do. Pretty cleaver once you figure out what's happening.

I would not go as far to say that The Weathered Underground is a work of genius like some have written. But I will say that it is VERY funny the more you dig in.

This is the first I've seen by Donahue (the director) and I have a feeling that he probably will end up turning into a fascinating filmmaker that some may get, and some won't.

Don't expect The Weathered Underground to win awards. As a matter of fact, I might expect the opposite from the older and dimmer peeps out there. But do expect, that the kids are going to eat this up.

I tend to agree with the person that said the other positive reviews of this "film" must have been left by people involved with the production of it. Compare, if you will, the reviews on Netflix.

I don't for one second buy the idea that people who didn't like this movie are somehow "dim" or old. And to even put this film and its director in the same sentence as anything done by Kubrick or John Waters is sheer lunacy. That seems to be the new normal in reviewing anything...people don't like it, then plants come out of the woodwork saying it was brilliant and "you people" obviously didn't "get it"...but I digress.

The most absolutely annoying thing about the film, beyond the (unintentionally) laughable dialogue and (let's be kind and call it "sub-par") acting is the awful color palette. It's as if someone said "Here's an idea: let's make all the blacks deeper than Atlantis and replace all the natural light and color with garish splotches of red and lime green and just let it bleed all over the place!!!" It looked like they were going for a comic book look, but that makes sense only if the comic they were trying to look like had just been colored and left out in the rain.

Also, anyone looking to actually sit and make these choices in order to get more than a 15 minute story is SOL here. The plots are designed to last about that long, no matter what you do...let me give an example of what I mean. This is how my first playthrough went: First choice, go to work or go to a club...we picked go to the club. Once arriving you have to choose from three ladies to talk to at the bar. So, we talked to a brunette, left the bar with her, dropped in on a diner where the ex works, get into a tiny altercation with her, then go up on the roof of the "hero's" apartment, get drunk, the girl somehow sprouts glittery angel wings that look like the kind ravers got from Spencer gifts in the 90s and then the girl wakes up after what I can only assume is a night of unsatisfying sex with our leading man, since she just walks to the edge of the roof and starts crying...ROLL CREDITS.

Now what the hell is that? It's hard to work up a reason to care about these characters in 15 minute snippets that go nowhere. After the color palette gives you a brain tumor, the rest of you will be trying to piece together a plot. Don't waste your time.