Dear Wendy

A witty European director made a film critical of dull-witted America...and that’s how Dear Wendy itself turned out. It’s difficult to rate and review this film because it is full of contradictions and wasted potential. The comedic satirical aspect is poorly balanced with the dramatic level, and the climax turns everything that came before it on its head, obviously with the aim of stirring up controversy. Sometimes European auteurs can be more annoying with their criticalness than American journeyman can be with their formulaic flicks. (29.09.2005)

This could have been really good if... Two-thirds of the runtime the film moves reliably in four-star waters and when the main character, as the narrator, comments on his unsatisfactory existence and the spirit of the small town, which is one big pit with a lot of miners with somewhat limited horizons, it's really good. The film works especially well in describing the group of outsiders that the small town society alienated from its center. But then there is a forced attempt to convey a message and criticize the cult of weapons in America. It's thematically good, but contrived and unbelievable. In the last 20 minutes, the film plummets downward, where it should have been building up. It was clear that the game with weapons and the rituals of the whole group went to hell after a few minutes, but the way the screenwriter stumbled upon it was a real disaster. The scenes where the grown-up in motion takes down a sniper at 120 meters with a pistol are just the tragicomic icing on the cake. Overall impression: 45%. (06.03.2010)