I haven't seen Ben Stiller delivered something with so much passion and conviction in a long time. It definitely was a welcome change to his switching gears from slapstick comedy to serious acting.
Plus it was his directorial debut too. And oh my, all those locations and aerial shots with his cinematographer were breathtaking and amazing. That and coupled with beautiful songs really set the mood and the tone throughout the movie.
There were also a few nice messages to take away. And the best one was probably that one lime from Sean Penn, "Beautiful things don't ask for attention." Simple yet profound.
However, the movie itself didn't seem to I've up to that quote. Some of the dream sequences lasted for too long and weren't very interesting.
Most of the cast were actually great to watch, including Kathryn Hahn, Shirley Maclaine and also Kristen Wiig with a more subtle approach this time and not really being funny. Only Adam Scott seemed out of place, especially under Stiller's direction in his last scene where he appeared very awkward.
As for Stiller's direction, there were a lot of great scenes and sometimes hilarious too. But all these were brought down by the not so great transitions in the storytelling progressions and extended sequences mentioned early on.
Otherwise it would have been even more enjoyable with some great lessons to contemplate over.
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