The Counselor (2013)

[HipGuide 196]

http://www.salon.com/2013/10/26/meet_the_worst_movie_ever_made/

 

I expect this one to be done by the end of the year.

[RyanSz 3140]

This won't get done as it's not really crazy except for the sex scene with a car and the bolo. I had high hopes for this one as I loved No Country For Old Men and this was a similar background involving the drug underworld, but it just fell flat for the most part. There were so many blank spots left to were you didn't know the motivations of some characters. What's great is I just looked at the Wiki page for this trying to understand some of those holes and here is what's written:

 

The film tells the story of a greedy lawyer, known only as The Counselor, who finds himself in over his head when he decides to delve into the dark world of drug trafficking. Along the way we meet his naive girlfriend Laura; Westray, a seedy middleman; Reiner and Malkina, a mysterious and dangerous couple; and Ruth, a prison inmate represented by the lawyer.

 

The story begins with a man (known only as the "counselor") and his girlfriend (Laura), laying in bed under white sheets and flirting. After a while he begins performing oral sex on her and the scene cuts to a different location. Somewhere in Mexico, where at an unidentified location cocaine is being packaged in barrels and concealed in a sewage truck. Two Mexicans drive the truck across the border in to Texas and leave it at a sewage truck facility after removing an important piece of equipment from the engine bay to avoid theft. The counselor goes to Amsterdam on what Laura thinks is a business trip. In fact the counselor arrives at a diamond dealer to purchase the perfect engagement ring for Laura, surprising her with a proposal a day later. Laura is very touched and immediately accepts. Some time later the counselor meets with Reiner, a client of his. They begin discussing a drug deal and Reiner asks him if he's "in"? Warning him about potential consequences.

 

-Can someone please explain the rest of the plot. What were Malkina's motives? What was the lunch scene supposed to represent?-----

 

While it's not the worst movie ever made, it surely isn't very good.

[SlidePocket 707]

One of the huge letdowns of last year, The Counselor could've been interesting with Ridley Scott directing and Cormac McCarthy writing the script, plus an all-star cast! Yet this movie blows on a wordy and clumsy suspense thriller that is short on suspense or thrills.

 

Most notorious scene is Cameron Diaz humping on a car while Javier Bardem watches in flashback. Plus it was reported that Diaz used an accent for her character, but when test screenings didn't get her dialogue, she had to re-record her lines so people can understand her. That comes one of the reasons why The Counselor fails to gel.

[RyanSz 3140]

It was bad, but I don't think it would make for a good episode. This wasn't so bad it was funny, it was just bad. Diaz gave the performance of her career, but even that couldn't save this convoluted story.

[jarrycanada 2483]

I have to re-watch this movie because I can't believe I didn't enjoy it. I should of loved it.

 

I like Ridley Scott films, but I think he must owe a lot of money to the bank. because he is green light's a lot of crappy movie ideas that should never should of been made. IE another blade runner movie is rumored to be in the works. Not even going to get started on Prometheus. this movie had such great actors in it but didn't do a lot with them. was listening to doug loves movies podcast and they had on that show Leonard Maltin he give this this movie his worst film of the year award. I sort of have to agree with him on that one. but i hated 10 years a slave a lot more, only for it's shameless pointless cameos that got used in that film.

[sillstaw 414]

I had such high hopes for this movie, and man were they let down. Was it really necessary to make a movie where the setup is vague, the plot complications are vague, the character motivations are vague, and the ending is vague, when all you're doing is making a movie about a drug deal gone wrong? It's not "The Tree of Life," or even "Traffic."

 

The thing that bugs me most of all is the nameless Counselor. I get that usually, when you don't name a major character in a movie, it's usually for symbolism or mystery, but the Counselor is just a lawyer. It's not like he's symbolic of anything, and whatever mystery there is to the character is mostly just the film being vague. But what really annoys me is how at least two characters REFER TO HIM AS "COUNSELOR" WHEN THEY'RE TALKING TO HIM. What, do none of the characters know his name, either? Even when they're doing freaking business deals with him?