The Hater

I hardly ever do movie reviews but this one was so bad, I feel compelled. It was advertised on Hulu as a comedy, and the movie "poster" looked silly. Husband and I were just hoping for something light hearted but this was not it. Unfortunately, my husband has a problem leaving any movie unfinished, so it played through. Honestly, I would have turned it off if I was watching it alone. I couldn't tell (still don't know) if it was supposed to be sarcasm, a spoof, or a true depiction of how individuals within the party system behave. There's plenty of other things out there on Hulu to spend your time on, so I recommend passing over this one.

I get it, the beginning was very tense and the protagonist was annoyingly angry. She was supposed to be. The chemistry that the actors have with each other is excellent, and there absolutely is character development/growth for Dorothy. Dorothy does actually reflect on her mistakes and does end up listening to her R opponent, her campaign manager (R), her grandfather (R).

Great movie. Main character seemed annoying at first but does a good job overall. Would have loved it if it mentioned neoliberal donors owning both parties. But its nice to have movies like this as a conservative could never run a grass roots campaign in real life without any large donors as we rely on those. But other than that nicely done. As an open minded conservative this movie does a great job trying to appeal to everyone.

Growing up in Texas, Dorothy went against her roots and became an unapologetic ultra-liberal. Being too zealous, she finds herself at home living with Grandpa (Bruce Dern) in his Fox echo chamber. When her school bully runs for state senator she decides to primary him with Libertarian views that mimic some of her own opinions. I didn't get much out of the movie other than Republicans are sometimes people too, which I think we all know. It showed Republicans privately espousing leftist views but never saying them in public. I haven't come across them. Guide; F-word. No sex or nudity.

40 minutes into this movie and I had a wild guess that the lead of the movie must be the writer and director. I have never seen her before, and it seemed to be a semi-amature vanity production. Sure enough, she wrote, directed and stars in this ridiculous movie. As of the 40 minute mark, it is not even remotely funny, and Dorothy's behavior is simply anxiety inducing. Done.

Really don't know what to say about this film, and not sure if I understand the agenda. Is it funny? No. I enjoyed the first part with Brice Dern, the rest is questionable. Do I understand the title? No Is this film important? Hell, no!

I loved it! The script gets a lot of things right: if you've ever been back home (especially to Texas) without really wanting to be back home, you'll feel a special kinship with Dorothy. The scenes between writer/director/star Joey Ally and Bruce Dern, who is apparently uncredited here, are fantastic. They have great comedic timing together and also share a warmth that is essential to us buying their relationship. You won't regret watching this movie.

I honestly expected a lot of sophomoric stereotypes and clichés from this film, but surprisingly, it broke quite a few. I loved the writing for its honesty, and although some of the plot lines fell shy of full delivery, the entire package worked well. This could easily have been extrapolated out into an eight part series to fully flesh out the story lines, but as a tidy package, it had a great 'indie feel'. Bruce Dern is wonderful as the grandfather, and again, more stereotypes are broken with the writing for his character. Joey Ally and Meredith Hagner have wonderful chemistry and screen presence, and Hagner's character breaks yet another big stereotype - that of the dumb blonde "bless your heart" suburban red state mom. It's a buddy film, it's a comedy, it's a good drama. I was honestly very surprised to see so much vitriol come from a few of the critics. Yes, it's political in nature, but it's not strictly about politics. 48% of Republicans will hate it, and 48% of Democrats will hate it - IF its taken as just another political romp such as "Election Day". It's more than that, and I really enjoyed it.

A super timely comedy for the current political climate. As far as satire goes, skip Don't Look Up, and watch The Hater. As a human in 2022, this story is so relatable, real, and relevant. Cast & crew do a fantastic job bringing this story to life. Go see this movie, an outstanding feature debut for Ally as a multi-hyphenate.

The basic premise of this movie is that all republicans are closet liberals. They make that point very subtly, I'll give them that. Pick a hot button topic and this movie brings it up and attempts to prove the liberal agenda is correct.