Movies, of course, are subject to the likes/dislikes of the viewer. Despite trepidations over the weak cast (except, of course, for DeNiro), I chose to attend on the basis of this movie being nominated for an Academy Award. Unfortunately, what I found was a poorly scripted and poorly acted film that had no meaningful plot and no meaningful value. Clearly an "A" movie in production quality, the fact is that this movie has nothing to say. It seems to display dysfunctional characters for the purpose of capitalizing on those dysfunctional characters and nothing more. This movie might best have been left on paper.

I managed to stick with the movie to the end, mostly because I was with a group, and waited (impatiently) for something, anything, meaningful to happen. Sadly, nothing meaningful ever did happen.

Most people seem to have gotten something from this movie. If you didn't, don't feel alone.