‘Babylon’ Failed Because We’re All Sick Of Excess And Depravity In Real Life

It makes no sense that period comedy-drama should be promoting with so many A-list actors and even a few Golden Globe nominations. “Babylon” This was an amazing flop. 

Except, the failure of screenwriter/director Damien Chazelle to lure audiences with his story of “decadence, depravity, and outrageous excess [that] lead to the rise and fall of several ambitious dreamers in 1920s Hollywood” shouldn’t be surprising at all. American moviegoers have grown tired of the same stories being repeated in real life. They don’t need to see more of the same.

A word that is frequently mentioned in audience reviews and critics alike is “boring.” The much-maligned elephant defecation scene was shocking and gross to the surprise of viewers. They were also bored watching Hollywood celebrities behave badly due to their drug abuse and complete disregard for human decency. It’s pervasive and it’s tired. Moviegoers used to love this kind of movie for its shock value. But now that lives of excess are so commonplace, that’s not even the case anymore.

“Babylon” Producing the film cost $80 million and it would have to make $250 million at the box-office to break even. The film, which is three hours long, has only brought in $6.6 million at the worldwide box office. As mentioned above, it’s up for Best Picture, Best Actress (Margot Robbie), Best Actor (Diego Calva), and Best Supporting Actor (Brad Pitt) at the Golden Globes, but didn’t earn the respect of most critics.

The reviewer from Salon said Observe “Babylon” It was an “exasperating” experience, saying, “It tries to do too much … Less would have been more.”

Reviewer Richard Roeper from tHe Chicago Sun-Times didn’t mince words with his assessment.

“What a sprawling, grotesque, self-indulgent, wretched, occasionally mesmerizing but ultimately over-the-top mess we have in Damien Chazelle’s Hollywood epic ‘Babylon,’ which one imagines was supposed to be a lurid and show-stopping and unvarnished celebration of the hedonistic madness that enveloped the movie business in the 1920s but comes across as a three-hour plus attack on our senses — a flashy, sometimes dazzling but curiously uninvolving and often nauseatingly gross spectacle,” he wrote.

He called the entire thing “a” “mess,” We will describe some of the more shocking scenes that were included to add shock value. And while there are meant to be elements of truth in this historically focused film, most of the truth isn’t really there.

“Most of ‘Babylon’ is a meandering and often stultifying work of pure fiction, in which extended set pieces overshadow anything resembling true character development or real insight about Hollywood in the 1920s,” Roeper notes. “Every once in a while, we get a glimpse of what might have been a great or at least entertaining film, but it’s not enough to overcome the defecating elephant and the urinating actress and the vomiting silent movie star and that ridiculous wrestling match with the rattlesnake,” He concludes.

Babylon currently has a 55% Critic Rating and 50% Audience Rating on the Review Site Rotten Tomatoes. 

Some of the same issues were brought up by audience reviewers, who also said “Babylon” It was both tedious and awful.

“A film made by people who have too much money and nothing better to do with their time,” One person saw.

“The director made his point and then beat you over the head with it,” Another reviewer also agreed. “The opening scene was almost 30 minutes but had made its point in 8. Everything was over the top and excessive. I believe the director fell in love with his own movie and forgot that editing can clarify the story.”

“Crass, uneven and self indulgent. Good actors degraded. Not funny, not moving, gross at times and WAAAYYYY too long. Scenes go on for 20 minutes for no reason or payoff. I see some Razzie nominations coming…..,” A third person also shared.

Chazelle had previously explained his reasoning behind including shock value to his film about the rise of talkies and the subsequent demise of the silent film era.

“You want to give them a sense of the kind of movie it is, in a way that maybe is deliberately shocking,” According to the director, EW You can include the elephant pooping directly onto your camera. “You wind up declaring, rather overtly, exactly what the parameters of the film are,” It was added “certainly one of the most literally in-your-face gags.”

The film’s parties also represent the times, from Hollywood’s old days up until today. “The parties themselves have shifted because they reflect what’s accepted by society at the time,” Chazelle explains the history of the early soirees “able to stand up, wipe itself off, sweep its crimes under the rug, and keep making movies.”

He says during the pool party and snake fight that “the wheels are starting to