So out the gate I was like, exactly the target audience for this thing. While The Man from the Future was doing his initial speech in the diner, I was aggressively nodding like Jack Nicholson in the GIF.

And I have to admit that the satire is more or less effective in a time that quite often feels like a post-satire era. When reality itself is absurd and heightened and baffling, it’s hard for satire to get out ahead of it. And this manages it, but I’m not sure if that’s a good thing. The Susan sequence is equal parts brilliant and disheartening. Seeing so much of a society’s failing laid so bare with a comedic edge was hard to watch, which is the whole point, but man, still tough.

I thought between not seeing The Man’s mother’s face, and the parallel of the sunrise that they maybe forecast that “reveal” a little bit too much. And it was so clear that his speech about “the AI giving you exactly what you think you want, with all the interesting characters and meaningful ending and all” was going to come back around. So I kind of felt like I had this thing figured out for most of the run time.

But then the very ending has me completely baffled. Can anybody tell me if they’re in a simulation or actually in reality? If the former, how does any of this matter at all? If the latter, how the fuck is the AI generating prompts?

Also, they try lampshading Susan’s son in her ear so it doesn’t just play as a Deus Ex Machina, but ultimately that’s really all it is, at least twice. And what’s it’s motivation? I can’t get a clear read on how that aspect of the story is contributing to the message.

This one unfortunately feels like it just doesn’t hold up to scrutiny at all, which is only a problem because it feels like it’s trying to be this prognosticating vehicle of truth.

I want to like it a lot more than I actually do. There’s a bunch of great everything in here, a strong intent, some fun violence, some silly humour, and it takes big swings which are SO appreciated in a time where reliable box office returns rule too many decisions. But it just can’t quite tie all together, and it really, really didn’t stick the landing at all for me.

I would LOVE if someone could convince me the ending makes any sense and bring back the good vibes I was feeling earlier on.