MovieChat Forums > American Woman (2019) Discussion > Good movie, but. . .

Good movie, but. . .

posted 5 years ago by PrimeMinisterX (8859)
3 replies | jump to latest

This movie was a surprise. I grabbed it from Redbox with no real expectations. I mostly just rented it because I saw that it had Aaron Paul.

I thought it was interesting, and it's certainly well-made, but the plot development where it's revealed that Aaron Paul's character has been cheating on her put me off the movie. It was unnecessary and seemed to do little to serve the plot in a positive way. I think the film would've been more satisfying if we had the satisfaction of knowing that at least one man in her life was good to her.

[–] maximmm (3409) 5 years ago

I was expecting one of the dudes she was banging to end up being the kidnapper - alas, it proved not to be the case. On one hand, that would have been too predictable (given that i was expecting it), but what we got .... wasn't that great either. I did like the acting from Christina Hendricks though - and Will Sasso! I recall him from madtv days - he was awesome.

As for the film.... something was definitely missing - I fast-forwarded wanting to know what happened to her daughter and who did the deed - so, I feel like if they wanted to make a drama film about a life of a woman getting over a grief, they should have dealt with that kidnapping thing earlier, otherwise I kept waiting for the big reveal until the very end - and the ending left me rather disappointed.

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8859) 5 years ago

Yeah, I also thought that Aaron Paul might turn out to be the killer, which as you say would be very predictable, contrived and unsatisfying. I'm definitely glad they didn't go in that direction. Really, it would've felt like a plot twist out of a totally different movie. This was a very grounded story.

Definitely if you're wanting some big, stunning reveal about the daughter then this film won't give you what you're looking for. This story is just about the woman's journey through her life of hardship, both through losing her daughter and also through the series of bad relationships she ends up in. I really found the ending rather depressing. I think that we, as the audience, are supposed to feel satisfied that she has found a strength within herself to just go forward in life, completely under her own power as a "strong woman," but I would've rather seen her marriage to Aaron Paul work out and to have seen him be a positive force in her life after so many bad beats. The plot twist of him cheating on her dropped the film for me from a 7.5. to a 6.5.

[–] liscarkat (19427) 5 years ago

"I fast-forwarded"

Then you are not in any position to have an opinion about the quality of the movie. You didn't see it all.