Nocturnal Animals 2016

I was infuriated by this movie. Not because of its quiet, anticlimactic ending nor the charges of misogyny or the pointless and distracting visual cues or the horribly amateur attempts at Southern accents or the 10th consistent performance by Amy Adams as a meek, tense, wide-eyed All-American girl gone awry. Its that all of that could've been forgiven if the movie had a sense of play or self-awareness. This was such a pretentious "Hollywood makes an art film" exercise. We're supposed to feel so much but neither the director or cast seems to give a shit about anything except "how cool this is going to look?" and "how serious are they going to take me?" I should've expected that given thats the M.O. for both Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal's careers, but I thought I might get a mature and modest drama in a 1970s vein and I guess I did, but it was so loaded with bad Millennial gimmicks and emo sentimentalism and an overall childishness. I really want to call this the worst movie of 2016 because its such a damning example of the excesses of mainstream entertainers but moreso because its a titanic waste of potential. I believe this same story and production concept could have delivered the most important and well-balanced film of 2016. Who would object to a glossy 21st century Andrei Tartokovsky flick? But it would take so much more talent than whats available right now in movies. Perhaps Nocturnal Animals will become a big curiosity or influence a generation to examine its influences, but as a singular work its just dreadful.