The Affair of Susan: A chaotic day at the park

Is it worth your time?

Honestly, only if you’re into early, frantic cinema that doesn’t really care about making sense. If you like your movies polished and logical, stay far away. But, if you want to see a bunch of people shouting at each other in jail while trying to figure out why their date went so wrong, you might find a weird charm in it. 🎡

The Affair of Susan starts with the promise of romance at Coney Island. Everyone knows that’s a trap, right? Within about ten minutes, the whole thing devolves into a comedy of errors. It feels like the writers just threw every possible problem at these characters to see what would stick.

The pacing is… well, it’s not really there. It just kind of sprints from one argument to the next. One minute they’re on a ride, the next they’re in a holding cell arguing about who dropped the ball first. It’s exhausting, but in a way that makes you wonder if anyone actually had a script, or if they just yelled 'action' and let them improvise for three hours.

There is this one bit where they end up in jail, and the sheer amount of people packed into the frame is claustrophobic. It reminded me a bit of the frantic energy in Public Affairs, but with way less grace. Some of the background actors look like they’re just waiting for their lunch break, which honestly, I can’t blame them for.

Oddly specific observations:

• The lighting in the jail cell scene looks like it was done with a single, very angry candle.
• The dialogue is 90% shouting.
• I swear the same background extra appears in three different locations.
• The hats in this movie deserve their own credit roll.

It’s nowhere near as tight as The Loudspeaker, which had a bit more of a rhythm to its madness. Here, it feels like the movie is tripping over its own feet. Still, there’s something undeniably human about watching a movie that clearly has no idea where it’s going. It’s not a masterpiece, but I’ve definitely seen worse ways to spend an afternoon if you’re in a mood to just watch chaos unfold.

Maybe it’s the lack of a real ending that gets me. It just stops. Like, the film ran out of reel or the director got bored. It’s not profound, it’s just… finished. If you’re looking for something to dissect, don’t bother. Just watch it, let it be weird, and move on. 🤷‍♂️