Mank may have good acting and moments, but everything else just falls flat!!!

Real Rating: 2.5 Typing Sounds

What I Like:

-Gary Oldman as film writer Herman J. Mankiewicz (Mank), really does what Oldman does best, disappear in his role, I also give credit to Tom Burke, playing Orson Welles, and Arliss Howard as Co-Founder of MGM Studios, Louis B. Mayer, that old Hollywood attitude from these actors was interesting to see

The So So:

-David Fincher directed this film with the story originally written by his father, Jack Fincher, you see scenes where you see Fincher’s hands all over it, but some of his decisions were interesting, but in the end didn’t do it for me, two examples, the sporadic storytelling telling his life earlier and then currently when he is writing the script for Citizen Kane can make it confusing for me to follow, and he went with the style of an old school film which for me made it look fuzzy at times, and hard to see in certain scenes as well, the black and white wasn’t clear cut picture like you see in Roma, it made the cinematography look sloppy

What I Didn’t Like:

-I found that for a story about Mank, I’m confused whether they portray him as a good man or a bad man, honestly, I don’t think they portrayed him well with his life as an alcoholic and the way he treated his family, but the way it ended it almost seem like he was a good guy, and making Orson Welles the true bad guy, I don’t know, it seems all confusing to me
-With all that said, a lot of the scenes I just found boring and uninteresting, it made me say, “Why should I care about Mank?” I just didn’t find his story all that interesting, and really, I just find him as a cocky film writer which begs no interest from me

Overall:

I went in this movie with high expectations. I mean it is directed by David Fincher and starring Gary Oldman. I tend to like watching films about old school Hollywood, but it wasn’t interesting enough for me to care. It isn’t close to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. At least that film really made it interesting. I give credit to the acting, most notably Gary Oldman, who is at it again, but this is not Fincher’s best work. He took some risks which to me didn’t pay off. I believe he needs to go back into making thrillers, because this one just falls too flat!!!

Real Rating: 2.5 Typing Sounds