Anomalisa

How do you present weirdness for the general public’s consumption? Well, it turns out a puppet show doesn’t turn the trick. This film is relentlessly strange, even down to the terribly-sung song over the closing credits—an act of aggressive refusal to conform to any standard of expectation that an audience might have for a movie. Under certain circumstances, that might be a description of brilliance; here, it seems to be Charlie Kaufman being a more outsized version of his usual, cryptic self. This flick's animation ultimately represents an awful lot of effort in the service of presenting a story that shifts away from mundanity only in so far as its characters are crazy—which is not exactly most viewers' idea of a good time. Whatever profundity others may have found in this outing, I personally could not get into. A major disappointment.