Nothing There

Nope -2022-R

“Jordan Peele is so amazing and edgy and inspiring! His new film defies description, amazing on multiple levels, creative and so sophisticated that Nope is impossible to quantify! Perhaps the best film EVER! I can’t wait to see it!” —Voice from the Peele Herd-
Nope, not me. Sorry to claim lone dissenter status but Nope is a film equivalent of the ageless folktale, The Emperor’s New Clothes. Everyone is impressed with well, nothing. The foolish, royal dude is proudly parading naked. Nothing on. That’s how I felt leaving the theater, reflecting on multiple layers of nothing. Here’s my summary: A fist-bumping chimp who whacks out and chews the faces off a few studio hosts was the horror. Check. A floating, mattress-like alien spacecraft was the sci-fi. Check. A quick witted, smack talking, wannabe rapper sister teamed with a stoic, single utterance, wannabe Clint Eastwood cowboy brother and a bored, techno savvy rough-and-ready Fry’s guy were the combined weird Peele deal. Yep. Check. Check. Check. But, I couldn’t make sense of any of it. Coherent? Nope. Scary? Nope. Captivating, spellbinding, riveting? Nope, nope nope! A group of 20 somethings grabbed their popcorn and walked-out sometime between the marauding monkey and the mystifying mattress. More followed. I stayed. Regrettably. But hey it’s Jordan Awesome Peele! Maybe you will spot the invisible clothes that I missed. So have a go and let me know.