It's funny, it's entertaining, it's full of spark, it's made incredibly well, it has good performances and it has a definite resonance within the cultural and political moment in which we currently find ourselves.
But ...
... it's only barely in my top half of Paul Thomas Anderson's films. That's saying more about the man and his filmography than it's saying about the movie, but it's worth noting.
And ...
... I can't help feeling that there was something about it that I didn't fully, all the way, 100% connect with.
And also ...
... I did watch it jet-lagged, on the day I got back from Europe, though it's really saying something about the movie's excitement level that I never fell asleep.
And yet it seems to be the consensus best film of 2025, with a few other contenders potentially staking a claim, but most of those being movies that fewer people have seen or in some cases have not really fully been released yet.
At the moment, it doesn't have a place in my top ten of the year, and if I'm not careful it will fall out of my top 20.
How concerned should I be about this?
When I got together last Friday night for a gathering with three other ReelGood writers for what we call the ReelGood Christmas Party -- usually just drinks out somewhere, though last year I did host it at my house -- I asked them to come up with top fives, hearkening back to our days when we used to podcast and when that would be part of our year-end show. No one else prepared a list, but I told them they didn't really have to, so I don't feel unsupported or anything.
But I told them my top five of 2025 nonetheless, a work very much in progress as you know, since I will not be finalizing it until January 22nd. And of course, One Battle After Another was not in that top five. It wouldn't have made the top ten, as I've said, and it's only just barely in my top 20.
When one of the other guys thought about his own answers to this question extemporaneously, he said One Battle would definitely be in it ... and had a hard time thinking of many/any others.
This doesn't surprise me of course, and I mention it as just the most recent example of the overwhelming love directed at OBAA this year. Another example is the many Golden Globe nominations it just received, nine all told, with five acting nominations among those. (All deserved, I should say.)
Am I doing this wrong by not loving it more than I do?
And does OBAA still stand head and shoulders above the other contenders in a year with more genuinely beloved films? Or is this so good that it's just one of the best films of any year?
Suffice it to say that all the love is definitely rubbing off on me, in both positive and negative ways. On the positive side, it's forcing me to reassess and remind myself of the many things I did love about the movie. On the negative side, it's getting my hackles up a bit.
I have nits to pick with the movie, but I do, for sure, find it entertaining, provocative, exciting and fun. It's all the things you want a movie to be.
Except for me that translates to a solid four stars, not the 4.5 or five stars usually attained by my best movies of the year.
Well, this battle will have one more skirmish before all is said and done. I've determined to watch it again before I finalize my list, which will be good because I know my wife wants to watch it too. It'll have one more day in the sun.
And we'll have to see, then, if I do love it enough to promote it ... or whether I promote it just out of the insecurity of being so obviously wrong in not loving it as much as everyone else does.
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