Part of the film's specialness lies in the fact that there seems to be little rhyme or reason to the choices it makes, or when it decides to make them.
Neither Connie nor Paul existed in real life, and the events in 18 ½ are pure fancy. Still, this is an eccentrically intriguing and thought-provoking chapter in the long history of Watergate-based TV series and films.
Mixing dark comedy and mild suspense, Dan Mirvish’s 18 ½ is not the movie many would expect it to be. But the unpredictability of it all makes this madcap political fiction thoroughly diverting.
18 ½ attempts to be part cloak-and-dagger thriller, part romantic comedy, part screwball comedy, and part mood piece, and its plotting is slapdash, to say the least.