The Clapper

If it's supposed to be a comedy, it's not funny. If it's supposed to be a satire, it doesn't know what it's satirizing.

Montiel treats his story's happily unsung oddballs with sincere affection. He doesn't hold them up to ridicule, or insist that they snap out of their quirkiness and conform. But he doesn't quite know what to do with them.

It's an interesting premise, but The Clapper doesn't live up to its namesake.

The screenplay is uneven, but the exceptionally strong cast makes it watchable.

It may be early in the year, but it's a good bet "The Clapper" will land among 2018's worst films.

Even at a time of year when movie companies typically unload their dross, the sheer awfulness of Dito Montiel's "The Clapper" stands out.

...a relentlessly quirky comedy that remains curiously uninvolving for the duration of its short-yet-not-short-enough running time...

The Clapper is a comedy that doesn't totally know what it wants to be, a commentary on fame and class or a romantic comedy. What we end up with is something that never really does both well and ends up hampering each theme.

The Clapper is not a film for everyone. It is a small film that has some charm as a sweet oddball rom com but which falls short in exploring its characters.

There's not much to applaud in this misguided offbeat comedy that fails to generate sufficient humor or poignancy from a broad satirical target.