H. L. Borges commented that humanity only invented four stories and doomed to repeat then to infinity. Obviously, even the stories of stories have dried up. The movie is the hybrid between "Airbud" (a basketball-playing dog) and Michigan J. Frog from the Looney Tunes. And no effort by actors can exculpate this fact.
All-star cast of the movie (Christian Bale, Zoe Saldana, Margot Robbie, Rami Malek, Michael Shannon, De Niro, etc., etc.) did not assure victory. Beginning as a pastiche with imitation of Wes Anderson, it quickly devolves into a formulaic, moralistic thriller. Bale is wonderful, Robbie's smile is worth only slightly less than Gioconda's but this does not make a movie fly. It is not bad at all; just undercooked. Probably, evolved from a theatrical play with dialogue suitable for the stage but not for a fast-pacing movie.
Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. Wes Anderson's oeuvre now has its imitators and not bad at that. The movie even employs Saoirse Ronen and Adrien Brody -- the constant presence in Anderson's movies. Totally unmemorable but well worth the price of admission.
