Before Midnight

Scott Hardie: “It was ok.”

Judging from its universal acclaim and how many best-of-year lists that it topped, I must be the only person who hated this movie. No matter how intelligent and articulate they are, why would I want to watch a couple argue for an hour? It's painful, especially when I really like these characters and just want them to get along and be charming, the way they were in the other two movies. I guess it's noble of the filmmakers to create a movie about how frustrated lovers can become after the novelty of romance fades and about how maintaining a relationship takes more work than sparking one, but I watch romantic fantasies like Before Sunrise and Before Sunset to escape from my crappy problems and enjoy myself for a while. When a movie ends and the princess and prince go off to live happily ever after, I don't want to check in on them ten years later to find out what horrible arguments they're having about their failures as spouses and parents. Maybe I'm partially to blame for being so spoiler-averse that I went into this expecting another enchanting feel-good movie like the first two, which are among my favorite movies, because this sequel is very much not a feel-good movie. It's well written and damn well acted, so I can't honestly say that it sucked, but I can definitely say that I hated it.This review contains spoilers. Reveal it.

− July 27, 2014 • more by Scott • log in or register to reply