Mank, about adult-beverage-loving Citizen Kane screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, a.k.a. Mank, is one of the newer original offerings from Netflix. While movies about Old Hollywood are usually pretty cool, unfortunately this one was boring and self-indulgent. In short, it’s the type of movie that the pretentious critics and compliant functionaries who vote in the Oscars like.
Most viewers will probably shut off this non-linear film off well before they get to the end of its 131-minute running time. For those who made it to the end, the movie apparently goes off on tangents unrelated to Citizen Kane and yet falsely accuses Orson Welles of engaging more or less in plagiarism of some kind in the collaboration with his colleague Mank.
Gary Oldman is usually stellar in any movie in which he appears, but in the Mank role, the title character is obnoxious, tiresome, and unsympathetic. There is a movie to be made about Kane — which many have deemed the greatest movie ever made — but not this one. Moreover, Tom Burke, the actor who does an excellent job as Welles, only gets a few minutes of screen time.
The script was written about 17 years ago by director David Fincher’s late father. Perhaps out of understandable respect for his dad, he didn’t make any changes to improve it.
Mank currently has 279 user reviews on IMDB. Here are two representative samples (ignoring the obviously planted 9/10 and 10/10 rated ones):
“[T]his foray into B&W, despite the considerable acting talents, falls flat. It’s boring. How can a film about witty, erudite Herman Mankowitz be boring? That might be because the script, despite some witticisms sprinkled throughout, becomes ponderous and the direction of the words limps instead of sings. A disappointment from modern self-absorbed Hollywood types trying in vain to duplicate the masters of past Hollywood. Sad and dull.
I was so looking forward for this film but it turns out to be really disappointing. Well, it’s so beautifully artsy with amazing cinematography, many stunning shots, beautiful locations and costumes, awesome Hollywood vibes, and brilliant performances by everyone. But unfortunately all of that didn’t save the movie because of its bad script. The plot is incoherent, messy, and disturbing. I really felt so confused at certain points. Mank is obviously a very well made movie but I hated it, it’s just boring and uninteresting to me. What a missed opportunity!
