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Review: The Beach Bum (2019)

The Beach Bum (2019)

Alright, alright, alright.

If there is one filmmaker that might unleash Matthew McConaughey in going full-out... Matthew McConaughey, that person has to be Harmony Korine. From start to finish, The Beach Bum might act as a sort of view into what the actor's pre-McConaissance life may have looked at when he lived his much-discussed, high-falutin partying lifestyle. This film, in all regards, really is a party. An alternate name for it may have been FUBAR, however, that is already taken by a Canadian indie-gem (which,  everyone should check out if you haven't already seen it).
The Beach Bum is no-doubt an entertaining film and you can see that in all of the cast who clearly had a great time making it. The question though is whether there is much more to the film than the base entertainment value of seeing Moondog (McConaughey) and his cohorts (which include, Isla Fisher, Snoop Dog, Zac Efron, Jonah Hill and, perhaps fittingly, Jimmy Buffet) partying it up, having copious amounts of sex, and ingesting an absurd amount of pot, booze and other illicits. Moondog is the ultimate hedonist and one whose ideology is simply to have fun and let all stresses in life roll easily off his shoulders. He, like most of the other characters, are very much caricatures, but though they are seen living in our world, they clearly operate on another level.

The film in some ways develops as a coming of age story for Moondog. However, even when major events happen in the life of Moondog, the assumedly impactful consequences that entail unfortunately have no lasting impact. For me, the result of this was that the film itself, like Moondog's experiences, had no tangible lasting impact or profoundness. At the end of the day though, perhaps that was Korine's intention all along. In interviews he has intimated that the film is somewhat of a response to the 2016 election - that yes, the country may be falling apart, but that doesn't mean we can't still get insanely high and have a good time. And, if that's the case, then the film does succeed - if you simply want to have a good time and not much more than The Beach Bum is for you.

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