Brief Interviews With Hideous Men: Review

I was looking forward to sitting down and viewing John Krasinski's directorial debut of Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. I'd heard great things after its premiere in the 2009 Sundance Festival - and Krasinski was even nominated for The Grand Jury Prize; however I can understand why he didn't win.  What I can't understand is why he was even nominated in the first place.  This film had so much potential; originally a great novel, featuring an amazing ensemble of television's top dramatic and comic actors, and a noviced, but enthusiastic director. Unfortunately despite what the film had going for it there was absolutely no shred of decency within the film.

The plot behind Brief Interviews with Hideous Men is supposed to be very simple. It's supposed to be about a scorned woman who interviews men for her Anthropology dissertation to be able to understand why men do the things they do; and while the movie holds true to the plot it unravels in a static mess of flashbacks.  It isn't until late in this 80 minute borefest that one starts to realize the motivation behind the main character, Sara Quinn's (Julianne Nicholson) actions. However, to call Sara Quinn the main character is almost a lie as her character is much more of a background performer in all scenes and her actual depth as a character is nonexistent.

The film tries to rocket itself off of the interviews that Sara Quinn holds with these 'hideous men.'  However, the depth and manner that the monologues/interviews are written/performed makes the audience question the credibility of the film; the worst by-far is that of John Krasinski himself. No one speaks the way in which he, or most of the other interviewee's spoke; and I'm certain that the level of detail gone into in these interviews, while necessary for the film, are most unrealistic. The only thing that Krasinski does in this film is make all men look like sexual deviants... and while the film is indeed about these 'hideous men' any semblence of plot fades away with each interjected interview.

This review, is short like the film, I don't have much good to say about Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. I can't recommend this film; simply based on the fact that it defies all that I consider to qualify as a decent film. It had a poor script, a poor plot, poor acting (despite a stellar cast), I couldn't connect with a single character; because each character has about 4 or 5 minutes of screen time and Sara's screen time is almost purely as a background performer, there was alsopoor directing, and - it was boring as hell. I think I even lost a little bit of respect for John Krasinski while watching this film.  On an up-note Will Forte's cameo was the only moment that I found slightly amusing. It was the only part of the film that made me chuckle.

This film is definitely for the skip pile.

1 out of 5 stars.