this isn't a film in search of a happy ending; It sounds gloomy and somber, it's true, but the emotionally rousing "Monster" does find threads of hope amid the despair
good performances by the entire cast are hurt by distracting choices like making the lead character a filmmaker and showing tons of his films with him pontificating about them or having long flashbacks with speeches. It just didn't work
a messy, conventional but likeable film that will likely strike a chord with unadventurous moviegoers rather than cinephiles who are used to these kinds of stories by now