THE VANISHING OF SIDNEY HALL REVIEWED
“The Vanishing of Sidney Hall” exists in a world of pretension and treating teenagers like people. While teens having politically charged voices is a recent discovery, the film dares to imagine a world where one of these Tide Pod poppin’ brats could create an inspirational novel. Kyle Chandler plays a detective who spends the last decade trying to figure out what happened to the guy. There is also a string of arsons inspired by said work and this movie is so boring. You’re letting me down, A24.
Lerman makes the best of the material, but it’s slightly edgy Afterschool Special stuff. We get that his relationship with his girlfriend was troubled, but the reasoning for his books getting torched was spotty. It also serves as a lesson to make sure where you leave your VHS tapes. Ultimately, it’s a movie about an MFA class writer disappearing up his own butt. He loves the women he wants to obsess over, but he also needs figures like Chandler to stalk his genius.
I can see how this movie annoyed certain people, but it’s virtually fluff. I wasn’t expecting such a miss with this cast.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Featurette
A/V STATS
- 2.39:1 1080p transfer
- DTS-HD 5.1 master audio track
