And I didn't like RENT either!

I can't sleep so here's a mini-rant!

Am I the only one in the "Universe" who HATED "Across the Universe?"

Man, ARG, what a load of bollucks!

2 1/2 hours of awful jokes ("She came in through the bathroom window" anyone?), horrid acting (Max Max MAX!), and terrible abuse of some of the most beloved songs ever written (Why all the talking in between lyrics during "Oh! Darling?" WHY WHY WHY?! Also all of the OOO oo oo OO OO OOOO-ing during Let It Be? Why was that necessary?).

Many of the songs didn't seem to quite gel with the context they were being used in. For example: Max singing "With a little help from my friends." Yes, it is played during a scene where he is carousing with his friends. Friends who WE NEVER SEE AGAIN FOR THE REST OF THE MOVIE! Way to set up a premise only to immediately discard it.

And an entire song dedicated to helping a minor character come out of the closet (literally, not metaphorically or socio-sexually [because she WAS a lesbian, right? I didn't just dream that, did I?]). I'm looking at you "Dear Prudence."

And how about we have Jude throw strawberries around with great rancour just so we can include the song "Strawberry Fields Forever?" Seems about as logical as any of the other choices!

Hey, why don't we introduce YET ANOTHER minor, inconsequential character 45 minutes into the film?

Can't think of a way to get rid of Bono's Dr. Robert? How about he just drives away on his freak-out bus and everyone's just fine stranded in the middle of nowhere because they all know the words to "Because?" Or was that metaphorical?

The use of "I Want You" for the army recruitment segment was interesting, but after a couple of minutes I was left thinking "Wow, this really isn't what the song's about."

Did anyone NOT see the film culminating with "All You Need is Love?" It was a foregone conclusion, so the least you could do is have it come about more organically. Like not having Lucy magically be transformed back into love with Jude because he has a rooftop singalong (which, also magically, is NOT stopped by the police). Like perhaps using a different (albeit less chantable) song which would better fit the situation instead of forcing the audience to buy into a wafer-thin premise?

The only thing that I really liked about the movie was Eddie Izzard. And I think I only liked him because he was essentially playing himself in a circus costume! I couldn't even stand the quintuplet Salma Hayek's as the sexy nurses, and that's saying something!

Boooooo! BOOOOOOOOOO! HISSSSSSSSSS!

So why is it that I can't stand one film which reappropriates popular songs and attempts to weave them into a narrative (ie/ This Mess) but I can love another film which does the exact same thing (ie/ Moulin Rouge)? Well you can put the exact same ingredients between two slices of bread, but in the end one of your sandwiches is just going to taste better than the other.

I suppose in the end I was left feeling like I didn't know what the movie was really about. I don't buy that it was about the spirit of the 60's, because what I got from this movie was a series of cliche's and no real deeper understanding. Too many characters clouded the plot from ever reaching anything approaching profound. I also don't believe that it was about love, mainly because I don't believe for a second that Lucy and Jude were in love or "made for each other" or anything of the sort. They were just two different people. I don't want to keep comparing it to Moulin Rouge, but what else do I have to compare it to? Satine and Ewan McGregor's guy (whatsisname) gave the impression of being destined for each other yet pulled apart by tragic circumstance. Jude was a sleazy dockworker who cheated on his girlfriend the moment he was in another time zone, and despite her best efforts, Lucy was not a hippie. She was a student protester, but not a radical. The bottom line is that they had some good times, but they do not belong together. They weren't torn apart, they grew apart.

Both in theory and in practice this film fails. In fact the story, characters, and production are such lame ducks that it's almost insulting that the Beatles music is associated with them.

The End. GET IT?!