Movie Daze: A Disaster You Can't Look Away From

Is it worth your time?

If you like watching absolute train wrecks where everyone involved seems to be living in a different reality, then Movie Daze is a weirdly charming find. If you prefer movies where people actually know how to act or hold a camera steady, stay far, far away.

This is for the people who find more entertainment in the mistakes than the script. 🤡

The Setup

The premise is simple: a director who clearly needs the paycheck takes on a project from a producer with more money than sense. She wants her sons to be stars. They are about as charismatic as a wet paper bag.

Watching the director try to manage this mess is painful. It’s like watching someone try to conduct an orchestra where half the players are holding their instruments upside down.

Notes from the couch

• The lighting in the studio scenes is just… aggressively flat. It looks like they filmed it inside a giant Tupperware container.
• One of the sons has this habit of looking directly into the lens whenever he thinks nobody is watching. It’s haunting, really.
• The dialogue sounds like it was written by someone who had only ever heard of "Hollywood" through a game of broken telephone.

There is a scene near the middle where they try to film a dramatic confrontation that lasts for what felt like ten years. It’s just them standing in a room, shuffling their feet, waiting for someone to yell cut. I don't think anyone ever did.

Why it stays with you

It reminds me a bit of the frantic energy in Free and Easy, where you can feel the desperation leaking through the frames. Unlike that one, though, there’s no real payoff here. It just ends, mercifully.

I caught myself pausing the film just to look at the background extras. Half of them are clearly just trying to find the exit. It’s the most honest acting in the entire piece. 🎥

The whole thing feels like a home movie that accidentally got a budget and a distribution deal. It’s messy, it’s loud, and it’s completely lacking in self-awareness. I can’t tell if I hated it or if I actually loved how much of a catastrophe it turned out to be.

Maybe both. Who knows.