Over the last half-century, the quirky nature of suburbia in post WWII America continues to fuel the fantasies of creators. Filmmakers like David Lynch and Gary Ross have created fascinating films detailing what goes on behind the neatly manicured facades of suburbia. It is in this vein that George Clooney approaches his latest film, Suburbicon. However, the quirky period piece struggles to differentiate itself from the other films looking at the same subject matter.
Suburbicon follows a complicated series of events in the Levittown-esque neighborhood in the 1950s. The main story follows the Lodge family in the wake of a home invasion, which kills wife and mother Rose (Julianne Moore). However, like all movies spotlighting suburbia, there is always a dark and seedy underbelly hiding behind the manicured facades. Nothing is as cut and dry as it seems…
Meanwhile, the Lodge’s story parallels the arrival of a young African American family to a house on the next block. This rattles the previously all-white community, bringing race relations in the neighborhood to a tipping point.
Suburbicon is incredibly well made, both technically and aesthetically. The film features a light and fluffy color scheme we’ve come to associate with 1950s Americana. It’s fantastical, marshmallowy and a treat to watch.
However, the film struggles mightily with its complicated and bloated script. The movie comes from a screenplay written by the Coen Brothers, with Clooney and his producing partner Grant Heslov also receiving script credit. The film features incredibly disparate tones as it tries to balance a number of drastically different voices. Suburbicon attempts to jump from a Coen Brothers level of violence to a fun and quirky (at times, almost slapstick) sensibility. Dark comedies are already a hard genre to produce due to the complexities of the psychological leaps. And in this case, they don’t land successfully. The violence in this film is realistic and brutal. As such, the transitions feel awkward and forced as Suburbicon struggles to merge these two sides of its personality.
Furthermore, the film finds itself weighed down by its throughly unlikeable characters. With the exception of the Lodge’s son Nicky (Noah Jupe), each of the characters are horrendously unlikable. Nicky (and the much less developed Mayers family) stand as the only accessible entry point for audiences. As such, these characters pull the audience back from the story we’re supposed to enjoy.
Perhaps more disappointing is to see how extremely tone deaf the script is, especially in our current climate. George Clooney is a tireless advocate and never backs down from a political challenge. However, the film’s clear attempts at social satire miss the mark. The script clearly aims to tell a powerful story relating to race. However, the content surrounding it ranges from disturbing to borderline dismissive.
The Mayers family seem little more than a plot device for the movie to hang its political hat. Throughout the film, the young family becomes the focus of appalling violence. This ranges from the hostile behavior Mrs. Mayers is subject to in the supermarket, to a disturbing race riot on their front lawn in the third act. However, through all this, the script doesn’t bother to give the characters a voice.
Late in the film, the chaos of the race riot is intercut with the final confrontation at the Lodge household. As the sequence comes to an end, we watch Mr. Mayers staring at the horrifying remnants of the riot on his property. A voice over plays in the background, talking about how people are animals. However, the voiceover comes from Gardner… not Mayers.
As the film is clearly trying to make a statement about race in this environment, it questionably maintains the ongoing silence of the black family, instead choosing to give Gardner Lodge the power in the scene. Furthermore, the only development the family receives is in their reluctance to react to the attacks directed at them. However, in doing this, it further diminishes their characters to little more than a plot device. We barely learn who these characters are. In a year that also saw Get Out rise to stellar success at the box-office , this film is truly disappointing.
The film’s treatment of its female characters is only mildly more-developed. However, it feels incredibly noticeable, as the film features an excellent character turn by Julianne Moore in dual roles. Moore plays sisters Rose and Margaret. However, other than assuming the task of playing two roles, there’s very little for the ultra-talented actress to do. Initially, Rose seems like a very interesting character. However, she dies very early in the movie (in the trailer, not a spoiler). Before this, her character shows glimmers of agency, as well as shows signs of being a legitimately interesting character. As such, it’s disappointing she is killed so early in the story.
Meanwhile, her sister Margaret is much more cookie-cutter. There are shades of interesting character quirks (especially as her relationship with Gardner grows). However, it remains little more than that. Over the course of the narrative, her character finds little to do, instead feeling like an over-the-top charicature of a 1950s housewife.
Ultimately, Suburbicon doesn’t provide anything new. The idea of the bizarre nature of suburbia has been explored by dozens of movies in the past, and it has been done better. While Clooney’s film showed great potential in early marketing, it doesn’t live up to the hype.
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