Sunday, August 7, 2011

Movie Review-Network


"Network"

Rating-R

Director-Sidney Lumet

Actors-Peter Finch, William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Robert Duvall

Genre-Drama

Year-1976



I was very surprised that I didn't like "Network". It won Oscars, including Best Actress and Best Actor, and is considered to be one of the greatest movies of all-time. "Network" is about a group of people who work at a failing news network. It focuses on a veteran news anchor named Howard (Peter Finch) who has a nervous breakdown on the air. His best friend Max (William Holden), who owns the news station is very worried about him. However, two young bosses named Diana (Faye Dunaway) and Frank (Robert Duvall) notice that Howard's meltdown has gotten the station its best ratings ever, and decide to use him. While I thought the premise was interesting, there were a few things I didn't like about this movie. I didn't like how the Diana character was written. She was an insulting stereotype of a working woman. She was completely obsessed with her job, had no life outside of work, and was written to have stereotypical "masculine" traits. Another thing I didn't like about the movie was how the older characters were blantantly written as "the good guys", while the younger characters, and their entire generation, seemed to be blamed for the collapse of society. I found the movie to be self-important and annoying. I do not recommend watching "Network".

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, pretty harsh, mfan! Love the way you slam this film! :)

dj trish said...

Wow nice review.Well written!Keep up the good work!Trish

mfan said...

Thanks :)

Tyler said...

Don't like Network? I'm shocked!

Oh, well, guess not everyone can like it. Thanks for being honest about it and not pretending you liked it or anything. Some people do that, y'know.

I'm curious to hear what you think of some of Lumet's other films.