I hoped for an enjoyable, insightful film about an inherently interesting story, but I found myself just wanting this thing to 'get there'. Hopkins is hamstring by poor writing and poor directorial vision. His character is buffing who stumbles and blunders from one little vignette to another. The film seems to be afraid to aspire to inspiring or anything greater than a string of brief jokes told in no particular order.
There's a story here, somewhere, but the writer/ director barely imposed order (other than a simple chronology), and shows no development of any of the characters.
The bulk of the movie is comprised of extremely short bits, like an amateur comic at an open mic night. Bit after bit just shows a self-centered, basically harmless twit.
Viewers could play a drinking games for every time Hopkins says, "What?" It becomes an incredible annoyance! Perhaps the writer thought it would show his simple, naive 'charm', but it doesn't. It emphasizes what is most irritating about his cluelessness.
We're supposed to believe that a few dozen people fing this clown compelling enough to extend their generosity in time and treasure to help a guy who didn't prepare, who didn't take some most care, pay basic attention toward achieving his lifelong goal.
Ultimately, Hopkins' character is a user, mildly sociopathic.
If it wasn't Hopkins in the lead, this movie would never have gotten any notice.
He's not "the most determined man I've ever seen in my life". He's obsessively selfish, and if there's a story about Burt Munro somewhere, I doubt this does it justice.
There's a story here, somewhere, but the writer/ director barely imposed order (other than a simple chronology), and shows no development of any of the characters.
The bulk of the movie is comprised of extremely short bits, like an amateur comic at an open mic night. Bit after bit just shows a self-centered, basically harmless twit.
Viewers could play a drinking games for every time Hopkins says, "What?" It becomes an incredible annoyance! Perhaps the writer thought it would show his simple, naive 'charm', but it doesn't. It emphasizes what is most irritating about his cluelessness.
We're supposed to believe that a few dozen people fing this clown compelling enough to extend their generosity in time and treasure to help a guy who didn't prepare, who didn't take some most care, pay basic attention toward achieving his lifelong goal.
Ultimately, Hopkins' character is a user, mildly sociopathic.
If it wasn't Hopkins in the lead, this movie would never have gotten any notice.
He's not "the most determined man I've ever seen in my life". He's obsessively selfish, and if there's a story about Burt Munro somewhere, I doubt this does it justice.