The Beaver

This might have been better as an intimate drama about mental illness and it doesn't have time to explore all of its themes.

It's a bummer of a movie -- dark and at cross-purposes with both itself and any image do-over [Gibson] might be seeking.

This is a wholly wasted opportunity for Gibson -- and a disappointing misfire from Foster.

Foster's curious movie is at once a realisation of the kind of "risky" script that never gets made and an unwitting signifier of typical Hollywood contrivance.

It isn't offensive, or antisemitic, or actionable, so there's some relief -- but it is very embarrassing.

Contrived, self-admiring and self-pitying, unfunny, burdened with a central performance which is unendurably conceited and charmless.

Are you willing to watch a good actor at work, or is the mugshot and scandals all you see and hear? Where you come from with your perspective on that essential question will (unfortunately) factor into how well you like or dislike The Beaver.

Foster does her audience an injustice by adopting a humorless tone and refusing to have more fun with the obvious elephant in the room.

I only wish that Gibson and Yelchin had more screen time.

The integrity of the actors and director rescues this film from disaster. [Full review in Spanish]