Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood

Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood has been called a love letter to Hollywood and movie making by its director, Quentin Tarantino and the cast. It is a fictional story of a fading television actor, Rick Dalton, played by Leonardo DiCaprio and his best friend and stunt double, Cliff Booth, played by Brad Pitt. It is set during the transition of Hollywood's Golden Age to the hippy era in 1969 Los Angeles.

Although the plot was fictional it did touch on some authentic historical content including the sets, the costumes, the music, some of the Manson Family history along with Margot Robbie playing Sharon Tate and a couple of the TV shows that DiCaprio’s Dalton were on were also real shows, all of which I thought was pretty interesting. Additionally, the storytelling was unique. Something I always thought was interesting about Tarantino’s writing was that he does his own thing. You know with his movies he will be bringing the over the top violence and providing a different, and at times satisfying, twist on history.

A lot of critics are talking about how great Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio were together and I have to agree with them. They had a very effortless and natural chemistry. I haven’t seen Pitt in a lead role, with as much hype as this movie, in quite a while, so I was pleased with his triumphant return. DiCaprio was surprisingly very funny and vulnerable. I thought that the character development was strong for them which made both likeable. Where the character development lacked for me was with Sharon Tate’s character. Not only was I was hoping Robbie would have had more lines but her on screen time wasn’t as extensive as it could have been. You are just left feeling like she was a sweet girl but nothing else. You couldn’t really connect with her character.

The movie was long but didn’t feel like it. The only issue I had was with some of the editing. There were these odd, sometimes lingering shots of characters feet. It didn’t make sense in the scene and after further research I discovered that apparently Tarantino has a foot fetish. Other than those few minutes of confusion I thought that the movie was entertaining, unpredictable and funny. This isn’t my favorite Tarantino movie but it is worth checking out.