The Whale -- Why I Hated It -- My Honest Movie Review

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Disclaimer: All reasonable comments are welcome, including reasoned disagreements. You will be banned for foolish talk, harassment, and hate speech on sight; it's a tremendous waste of life. I believe in freedom of association and, by extension, freedom of dissociation from you.

[oliverholmes-gunning]

One critic I read wrote of The Whale, “there doesn't seem to be any middle ground at all; people either believe it to be a masterpiece, or a pile of sentimental claptrap.” I guess I must be one of the rare people who thought it was both of those things at the same time. On the one hand, I hated the heavy-handed moralising themes, and I completely agree with your take on the ending too, it was a trite, clichéd cop-out that came close to ruining the whole movie for me (not to mention the fact that it was clearly ripped directly from Iñárritu's Birdman, where the same type of ending was executed in a far superior way). The stereotyping didn't really bother me because I think at its heart the movie isn't really trying to deal with obesity per se, it's using obesity to deal with ideas like depression, existentialism and self-image; but I can see why some people might've found it annoying.

At the same time, although it was unashamedly sentimental, and more emotionally manipulative than Schindler's List, I did find myself falling for those emotional cues, feeling a genuine, deep empathy for Fraser's character that has rarely happened to me when watching a movie. And in large part that's of course down to Fraser's incredible performance, well deserving of the 2023 Oscar for Best Actor that it won him (though I was still disappointed not to see Colin Farrell get the recognition he deserved for Banshees of Inisherin, easily my favourite performance- and indeed movie- of 2022). And, though my attention waned a little during the middle at the arrival of a number of sub-plots that weren't entirely necessary in my opinion, overall I found myself totally engrossed in the film (I have quite a short attention span- even very good movies sometimes lose me halfway, and I find myself pausing them and returning to them later; and yet this two hour narrative of a week in the life of a recluse waiting to die in his squalid apartment kept me hooked from beginning to end).

As a final thought, I do see what you mean about the earnestness of the movie, but honestly in this current era where everything has to bathed in postmodernist, meta irony, I found its unabashed earnestness and sentimentality somewhat refreshing.

[Rascool]

I couldn't get into it. I think mostly what I hated was how nasty his daughter, Ellie, was to him. Like I get that u had issues with his abandoning u but she just was really excessive & I thought why even bother to visit him if u hate him so much. Ruined the whole movie for me tbh

[trinaq]

While I liked all of the performances, especially Brendan Fraser's, and it was very well written, I still felt underwhelmed by most of the film.

[DannyD-lryg]

I liked it alright - was watching it while doing other stuff. Then, suddenly, I was uncontrollably weeping for the last 1/4?? It’s like.. my brain was unmoved, but somehow on a deeper level was completely obliterated 😅

[magnusm.]

Couldn’t agree with you more, though, I’m surprised you didn’t mention the acting. Every actor with the exception of Fraser seemed to have been going at it over-the-top. I really couldn’t take the oh-so-serious and melodramatic acting throughout the film. Especially as it relates to some of the really bad, trite dialogue.

You nailed it when you point out that The Whale is very Gen-Z as it seems to prioritize honesty, BUT has no sense of irony. Makes for a bad and unbalanced tone.

I was also really frustrated by the young door-to-door evangelist. As a religious person - a Lutheran - I found his beliefs to be fascinatingly confused. Whoever wrote this character clearly knows nothing of evangelical protestantism. I wanted so bad to tabulate his convictions, but couldn’t as they literally don’t exist?

The beach scene(s) are just the worst, been a trope for too long. Where is the social awareness? Similar to Mother! is just a little to on the nose. The beach as his garden, his pre-fall state? Yikes. Please, stop.

[RianPhin]

what about the fact that it’s entirely based on a stage play that’s why it’s in one room and the religious thing and ending are written that way? i don’t think arronofsky is to blame

[jimwoodswrites]

It really was just lacking in story. The characters were often one note and didn't act like real people.

[antonnym]

I don't know if I would like this movie, but I am eternally grateful to Brendan Fraser. In 2003, I lost my wife to Diabetes and I was heartbroken and at the lowest point of my life. My brother moved in with me so I wouldn't be alone at least for a few months. One day about a month and a half after my wife's passing, my brother brought home a movie rental, which was Blast from the Past. I was barely paying attention, lost in my own misery, but eventually noticed how good and fun that movie was and found myself laughing out loud for the first time in a long time at what Brendan was doing! That was when I realized there was light at the end of the tunnel. (By the way, Christopher Walken is awesome!). Even if I don't love The Whale, as a movie, I may want to watch it just for Brendan's performance. All good wishes.

[bycorduroy]

it’s adapted. “the whale” also works with the water analogy. ocean symbolizing freedom.

[TheSham]

He was obese because of his depression and he wanted people to hate him and think he is gross because he himself believes it. It was a guy who believes he did nothing good in life and wanted to see the one thing that he thinks is the most amazing thing he did which was his daughter. Sure it is easy to compare him to a whale but I don't really get the impression that it was the most important thing other than it was the linking point to his daughter.

[adlerdefender]

This movie is great, the main character is not being stereotyped, the movie is only showing a person who truly has given up on himself beyond redemption. It shows how addiction over powers logic and it shows how his choices affect others .

[theoriginalthinker]

I haven't seen the movie, but when someone says "I hated this movie, " a movie that's supposed to be good, to me it means it's worth seeing.

[Zues.s]

I dont think that they are calling him a whale. His daughter had wrote an essay on moby dick and the whale. That he reads very often. It symbolizes how much he wanted to be together with his daughter. Thats just how i put it together. Idk

[Charlotte]

I thought this movie was amazing. That binge eating scene, for instance, was very intense. I thought all the characters had nasty/unkind sides to them and good sides to them. I didn't think they were onedimensional. Charlie is of course much more than his obesity. He is an English teacher, he loves literature. He values honesty. And so on. But the movie is about his illness (obesity, addiction to food, depression) taking his life so yes, it's about his obesity.

[antonnym]

I'm glad you mentioned The Wrestler, because that one really got to me. I loved it. Who would have thought Mickey Roarke could bring tears to the eye? But he was AWESOME!

[mikemolina]

I couldn't finish this film. Not once did I feel sorry for Charlie and it really felt like this film wanted us to. And yes I agree, that religious kid was just a confusing character.

[DanielS-rphw]

I was very conflicted on my views about this film so it was great to hear a well written review voice my opinions for what was nagging me about this movie. Great write up!

[whybegin]

I’m lost on how people think this is a good movie in any aspect. Terribly written, offensive, exploitative, and has nothing to actually say

[Solar_Corpus]

****SPOILER WARNING****The sudden ending really caught me off guard, I was still recovering from the scene prior that built up to him walking to Ellie, and just the way he had ascended was so quick and out of nowhere that I kinda started laughing while crying still. It was just so bizarre to me; my husband and I were kinda just sitting there in an awkward silence.

But I do have to give Brendan Fraser credit for his amazing portrayal of this character.
The way he displayed his shame and humility for himself really pulled me to empathize with Charlie, and really had me rooting for him to change, but I knew this was essentially a horror film, so in the back of my mind, I knew what was coming but still wanted him to desperately change his lifestyle.
I thought the cinematography and setting was realistic for someone of the sort, the whole time I couldn’t help but think, “damn he would feel so much better if he opened a fucking window and let some light in the apartment.”
I truly did pity him.

But I have to agree with others opinions on other characters, I thought Ellie was overly harsh, and didn’t seem realistic as a resentful person. She seemed a bit over the top.
It was clear that Liz was supposed to be the enabler, she did that part well, I don’t really have anything to say about the acting portion.

[Ozo_Maduka]

Thought it was fantastic. Cried multiple times learning the compounding sad events which led to Charlie’s current state…. I thought they showed his self destruction well, and it was touching how he and his daughter had a chance to hash out some of the issues, and in his last moments he was able to show her that even though his actions had bad consequences, he loved her deeply. He died seeing her smile….great great movie