Babel Movie Review

Last night, after I saw Rocky, I went downtown and saw Babel. This was on my list of "to see before the Oscars" because it is nominated for some Golden Globes, so I was eager to see it. Well, let's just say it's not my pick for Best Picture. I thought it was perfectly acted by everybody, but it just felt like the storyline was really forced. If you don't know, it has the same kind of story as last year's Best Picture winner Crash did, where all these storylines intersect somehow, but instead of race relations, this one dealt with the fundamentals of communication and how it fails. The ideals behind it were solid I thought, but I just didn't think the way it played out on screen was all that great. It seemed like it was trying to force down our throats the idea that the problems in this world are all due to a failure to communicate, and after a while it was like all right already, I get it, we should fear everyone who doesn't speak our language or who is different (a feeling Crash made us feel guilty for having). But it just kept piling it on. Long story short, I didn't really like it.

On the Reganometer, I give this movie a 6 out of 10, and say if you want to see it just because it's nominated for some awards, like I did, you probably have to so you can say The Departed really should win, but if you're not in my boat, then I would suggest seeing something else instead.