Even though Francis Ford Coppola has been thinking about Megalopolis for decades, it only recently hit mainstream pop culture— and it hit with a bang. As a notorious trailer-avoider I was diligent to stay away from any media that came out, however, this was harder to accomplish this time around as Megalopolis was stirring up controversy and attention that I couldn’t avoid. Never had there been such a vast divide between an audience, half of which left the theater in disgust and the other half leaving in love.
Despite Coppola pouring over $100 million of his own money into this latest endeavor, the movie only reaped a weak $7 million at the box office. This is in part due to the spread of the film’s most memorable moments across Instagram and TikTok, its already irregular and chopped up scenes skewered into five second clips make a perfect consolidated form of entertainment for those scrolling through their social media apps. You might have seen what I’m talking about, the most notable of which being Adam Driver’s “So go back to the club” quote. I could argue that this is a misrepresentation of the film, yet, it perfectly and ironically captures the entire atmosphere– that being, quite literally, the club.
Disorienting, fluctuating, hilarious, and shocking, technically there’s something in there for everyone to enjoy. However, put in the context of Shakespearean dialogue and surrealist visuals, these presumably well thought out ideas came off as clownish and superficial. As many times as I was drawn into what was happening on screen– flashy costumes, gaudy characters, drag Shia LaBeouf— there were an equal amount of moments that had me rolling my eyes in either cringe or confusion.
Easily the messiest and unconcerned movie I’ve seen in, well, ever, it was an impressive yet nauseating feat to see pulled off on screen, tallying up to a whopping two hour and 18 minute runtime. For the first half of the movie, its chaotic and careless nature drew me in, as I couldn’t believe someone had spent the time to write out the scenes I was watching. As I watched a virginal Grace Vanderwall (former America’s Got Talent sweetheart) perform a floating song performance in an Athenian-esque arena, however, this over-the-top spectacle began to wear off on me.
With many plot lines that faded out in the background of sexy charming characters or outlandish futuristic cityscapes (that unfortunately looked far too CGI for any enjoyment) after too long a lack of a substantial plot, I had to relinquish any hope for cinematic enjoyment in lieu of experiencing something I can’t quite put into words, absurd and amorphous.
This isn’t to say I wouldn’t warn off viewers completely, but I do err on the side of caution when recommending it. If you’re into the funky, experimental, absurd, or you just like Adam Driver, then I say give it a shot. It’s worth forming an opinion on, which I can guarantee you’ll have after seeing this behemoth of a movie.