Fort Tilden (B) Movie Review
Fort Tilden stars Clare McNulty as Allie and Bridey Elliott as Harper who just want to get to a beach called Fort Tilden where they're planning to meet these two gets they met at a rooftop party. Their journey to the beach becomes increasingly and unnecessarily difficult.
The premise on paper does seem a bit slight and flimsy. Typing that synopsis out made me realize how someone who hasn't seen a trailer or read a review for the film might think this is one worth skipping. But this seemingly thin plot manages to pack a lot of ideas into one story about millennial culture and the stereotypes that accompany it.
Fort Tilden is a pretty great send-up of millennial culture. Harper is entitled and narcissistic and Allie is to a lesser degree. And they just want to get to the beach. Harper tells her father that she's trying to keep her expenses low and then spends around $500 of his money on this day alone. Allie is planning to go into the Peace Corps and is set to leave in a couple of days but constantly lies to her officer and tells her that she can't go in for a meeting today because she is "sick."
Our filmmakers, Sarah Violet-Bliss and Charles Rogers, are poking fun of this culture but they regard our protagonists with a sense of warmth. This is satire done right because it's bold and unapologetic and occasionally uncomfortable. But as much as it is uncomfortable, it is amusing.
But I guess one of my problems with the film is that it's more amusing than it is funny. Fort Tilden is intelligent but never really makes you laugh out loud. There are a couple of exceptions to this but not nearly enough.
There are also some scenes that are quite heavy-handed in the actors' approach to mimic stereotypes of millennial culture. Clare McNulty and Bridey Elliott, two newer actresses, are really quite good in the film, though. They are so earnest in their narcissistic ways and you know that they mean well which is what makes them so uncomfortably relatable. They occasionally stumble over the fine line of being just a little too over the top but this is rare.
And at the end of it all, our characters learn a couple things about themselves and we learn a couple things too. And it's great that Fort Tilden often doesn't hit you over the head with its satire. The film is intelligent, like too few satire films are.
FINAL GRADE: B
MPAA RATING: R for language, sexual content, some graphic nudity and brief drug use
The premise on paper does seem a bit slight and flimsy. Typing that synopsis out made me realize how someone who hasn't seen a trailer or read a review for the film might think this is one worth skipping. But this seemingly thin plot manages to pack a lot of ideas into one story about millennial culture and the stereotypes that accompany it.
Fort Tilden is a pretty great send-up of millennial culture. Harper is entitled and narcissistic and Allie is to a lesser degree. And they just want to get to the beach. Harper tells her father that she's trying to keep her expenses low and then spends around $500 of his money on this day alone. Allie is planning to go into the Peace Corps and is set to leave in a couple of days but constantly lies to her officer and tells her that she can't go in for a meeting today because she is "sick."
Our filmmakers, Sarah Violet-Bliss and Charles Rogers, are poking fun of this culture but they regard our protagonists with a sense of warmth. This is satire done right because it's bold and unapologetic and occasionally uncomfortable. But as much as it is uncomfortable, it is amusing.
But I guess one of my problems with the film is that it's more amusing than it is funny. Fort Tilden is intelligent but never really makes you laugh out loud. There are a couple of exceptions to this but not nearly enough.
There are also some scenes that are quite heavy-handed in the actors' approach to mimic stereotypes of millennial culture. Clare McNulty and Bridey Elliott, two newer actresses, are really quite good in the film, though. They are so earnest in their narcissistic ways and you know that they mean well which is what makes them so uncomfortably relatable. They occasionally stumble over the fine line of being just a little too over the top but this is rare.
And at the end of it all, our characters learn a couple things about themselves and we learn a couple things too. And it's great that Fort Tilden often doesn't hit you over the head with its satire. The film is intelligent, like too few satire films are.
FINAL GRADE: B
MPAA RATING: R for language, sexual content, some graphic nudity and brief drug use