Paul Thomas Anderson's new film stars Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams. Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) is a WWII veteran suffering from alcoholism and post-traumatic stress disorder. After working several odd jobs, such as department store photographer and cabbage farmer, he shows up drunk on the boat of Lancaster Dodd (Seymour Hoffman), the leader of the Scientology-esque cult called the Cause. Dodd takes a particular interest in Freddie, and in the hopes of "curing" him, invites him to work on the boat. Freddie becomes an active member and advocate of the Cause, but he also begins to question the motives and methods of Dodd and his cold, calculating wife, Peggy (Adams). The film stirred plenty of controversy because of the Cause's obvious similarity to Scientology and Dodd to L. Ron Hubbard. Therefore, I was very interested in this fim and anxious to see it. It was definitely NOT worth the wait. The subject matter is fascinating, and had the potential to be a fabulous film, but Anderson's dull script and equally dull directing make its two-hour, twenty minute running time feel more like two days. There was no fluidity to the script or the editing -- some scenes had nothing to do with the central plot, and left me wondering why they were included at all. Others were overly long and dragged out, and almost put me to sleep. The only positives of this film were the impressive performances by Hoffman and Phoenix. Other than that, there is no reason to see it. I thought that it would be difficult for a 2012 film to be worse than Flight or Moonrise Kingdom, but The Master takes the cake.
Should you see it: No
Grade: D+
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