Matt Haig

This is a great fun film. There are so many things I loved about it. I love that it is a sports movie that is not about its sport, has zero training montages, and has a central character who is selfish and messy and dangerous and yet you somehow want him to win. I like that is a film set in the 1950s with the most brazenly 1980s-meets-TikTok soundtrack. Alphaville AND Tears for Fears! Blasting over 1950s Brooklyn. Positively audacious. I love that it is a movie about the American Dream. About tenacity. About the human competitive drive. The opening credits show sperms racing through the fellopian tube - a la Look Who’s Talking - because basically TimCham IS that. He plays a kind of squiggly racing tadpole doing anything to get there. I love the madness of its influences. I mean, this is a film that seems inspired by Karate Kid 2 and Bonnie and Clyde and somehow Forrest Gump and The Wolf of Wall Street and Mean Streets and lowbrow comedies ALL AT ONCE. Incredible. I love the bravery of the casting. Gwyneth Paltrow and Tyler the Creator in roles that seem bizarre on paper but make complete sense in the film. I love the dialogue. I love that it doesn’t try and be authentic. No one said things like ‘unibrow’ in the 1950s. Half of the words sound like Reddit comments. But it just works and feels natural. I love that Wes Anderson didn’t direct it. I mean. No disrespect. But I am just pleased it managed to be stylistic and ironic and playful while also being totally earnest and gripping and human and heartfelt. I love that one of the most memorable scenes is simply a bathtub falling through a floor for no reason. Just summed up the whole eccentricity of it all. I love that it is about table tennis. I love that Timothee Chalomet has more than one cry and this one is markedly different to his cry in Call Me By Your Name. I love that it couldn’t have been created by AI. Seriously. No way. It’s almost stubbornly human in its violent unpredictability and rebelliousness. I love that it is an antihero movie. It won’t be for everyone. In fact it caused a future divorce for the couple next to us. But it was for me. Five stars.

New year, old you. New day, old post.

Happy Christmas, with or without alcohol. See you on the other side! It’s a mocha coffee for me.

This Christmas I am supporting @papyrus_uk - who are raising money to keep their helpline availability 24/7. It is a vital line as it is devoted specifically to suicidal people under the age of 35. Helplines are a crucial safety net. And for many people just to know they exist is a comfort.