Chapter 27.

"Visually ugly, morally non-existent and a complete black hole in the departments of insight and wit, Chapter 27 is quite possibly the most godawful, irredeemable film to yet emerge in the 21st century," declares Premiere's Glenn Kenny. "This inverted vanity project of pretty-boy actor [Jared] Leto (he co-executive produces as well as stars), for which he packed on seventy pounds in order to portray John Lennon murderer Mark David Chapman, tries to take the viewer inside the head of the obsessive assassin. As it happens, that's a pretty empty place."

Ed Gonzalez in the Voice: "Making the Fincherian The Killing of John Lennon seem like the masterpiece Zodiac wasn't, this misbegotten psychological portrait eagerly foregrounds Leto's excess blubber and histrionic blather, delivered like bad improv outside the Dakota building - 'home of the great and powerful,' according to Chapman, clearly oblivious that Rex Reed also lives inside."

"Chapman narrates this subjective tale in a raspy voice that, apart from being in a slightly lower octave, closely resembles that of South Park's Towelie," notes Nick Schager in Slant. "This only compounds the inanity of everything he actually says, most of it revolving around his love/hate feelings for the Beatles and Lennon, as well as his infatuation and identification with The Catcher and the Rye."

"None of these elements are integrated coherently enough to seem like more than postmodern noodling," writes Matt Zoller Seitz in the New York Times. "And except for Judah Friedlander's earthy, funny work as a paparazzo, most of the performances are vague and dull, including Lindsay Lohan's supporting turn as a fictional Beatles fan who befriends Mr Chapman. The character's name is Jude. Care to guess how Chapman greets her?"

"Perhaps the harshest criticism that can be directed at Chapter 27 is that it's awful even for a late-period Lindsay Lohan movie," suggests Nathan Rabin at the AV Club.

Andrew O'Hehir talks with Leto for Salon.

Posted by dwhudson at March 28, 2008 1:27 PM