Better Never Than Late on "The Whale"
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I had been putting it off for sometime now, but since it is about to leave HBO Max, I sat down and watched "The Whale". Let’s discuss.
I wanted to see it when it came out, but I never got around to it in the theaters. I kind of forgot about it, but then Brendan Fraser won the Oscar for best actor when the movie came out. I then forgot about it again, until the podcast "Doughboys" started talking about it. The stuff they said about the movie piqued my interest one more time. I still took my sweet time to watch it, but "Doughboys" kept bringing it up and I just had to watch.
So I did watch the movie, and I was not a fan of this movie. I get it. I get why people liked this movie, why Fraser was nominated and why he won. I understand the work that Fraser put into this role and he acted his ass off. But this movie was not for me.
First off, I'm not crazy about movies that are adapted from plays. Plays are their own thing. They're performed on stages for a reason. They are quiet and take their time telling you the story. When you go to a play you're prepared for that. When you go to a movie, it, for me, just feels boring. The moments of silence that work on stage don't work the same for me watching a movie. I have never really enjoyed my time watching a movie adapted from a play. It doesn't work for me.
I also found this movie to be melodramatic. It hit all the cliche notes one could want from a story like this. Fraser never left his house because he felt he would be judged for how he looked. And when people saw him, they judged him. The pizza delivery guy scene near the end frustrated the hell out of me. When he finally saw Fraser, the face the actor made was disgusting and offensive. When his students finally see him their jaws drop and they start to pull their phones out to take pictures. I don't get this. There are plenty of people who may be overweight or obese that are out in the open everyday. To be honest, my wife and daughter enjoy the show "1000 LB Sisters", and Fraser's character in this movie is smaller than the family on that show at their heaviest. Sure, Fraser is big. He needs a walker and anchors to help him get in bed. But I have seen plenty of people bigger than Fraser out in the public on the daily. I also kind of despised how they treated the female characters in this movie. First off, Hong Chau is the only female character I felt was written properly, but she still had moments where she was out and out mean. She yells at Fraser about chewing properly when he almost chokes. That is a totally normal thing to happen, but the way they had Chau go into him made me angry. I actively disliked Sadie Sink in this movie. She was mean, angry at the world, plotted against everyone and acted like an entitled moody teenager. Maybe that is how the character is in the play, but in this movie she was mean and nasty all the way to the end. I was rooting against her the whole time. And Samantha Morton, who plays his ex wife, is in one scene and I felt like she was just there to yell and scream and be mad that her daughter isn't who she wanted her to be. She is loud and angry. Her mood switches at the drop of the hat. She walks on screen and storms off after a blowout with Fraser. The writing for women in this movie was not great in my opinion.
As for Fraser, I said I understand why he won, but his performance was not otherworldly to me, He portrayed an obese person very well, but I also felt it was kind of hammy. The binge eating scene was gross. The constant coughing was distracting. He never got angry or frustrated at all of the people who yelled at him or made faces at him. It was a soap opera-esque performance to me. I also kind of hated the sound in this movie. You could hear every crunch and chew of food. You could hear the wheezing. You could hear everything and it was as rough to listen as it was to watch.
Darren Aronofsky is really hit or miss with me, and "The Whale" was a big fat miss for me. I'm a chubby guy myself, and I felt like this movie was about fat shaming Fraser. I get all the jokes "Doughboys" have been making now too, which is going to make future listens even better. I'd skip "The Whale" if you want my recommendation. It is melodramatic nonsense.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.
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