The Vanishing of Sidney Hall
So much potential wasted by writing that thinks examining <PERSON> as a pretentious tortured artist with no personality is enough to make a decent and impactful story. <PERSON> is bland, he's pretentious (one of the worst lines in a movie of many bad lines is one in which <PERSON> is unironically called a "purist" because he never goes on the internet), and there is nothing about him that would signal that he's the great writer every other character says he is. And they say it multiple times. 952
Instead of showing any intellect or sense of individuality out of <PERSON>, we are told that he's "brilliant" from other characters. These characters exist solely to serve <PERSON>'s tortured soul, no-one-understands-me narrative.
The non linear storytelling was supposed to make the film more mysterious I suppose, but it just doesn't work when the mystery that's being set up is so underwhelming and makes so many odd choices for the sake of being odd. In fact, it would have benefited from being told in a linear way.
In better hands, this story could have been an interesting look at the effects of fame and the responsibility that comes along with it as time goes on. <PERSON>'s assistant once says to him, "you're drunk and pretentious and I want to slap you in the face." At least the movie is somewhat aware of how the audience feels. 132