Magazine Dreams is a vulgar, tortuous look at a devastatingly sad amateur bodybuilder, and an incredible waste of a spectacular Jonathan Majors. JacobOller's Sundance2023 review:
, transformative and off-putting performances of commitment have been successfully carrying unworthy films to critical acclaim for so long that it’s become a bit of a stereotype. “Sometimes, you give the performance of a career, by turns heartbreaking, searing, gentle and risky, and the movie kind of sucks,” he writes.
Like its star’s muscles, settling for what’s naturally achievable doesn’t cut it. Narrative PEDs juice the hardship. If the film had a different tone—one couched more inside Maddox’s unreliable perspective rather than one clearly observing from a safe distance—this kicked-while-down cruelty could be ascribed to Maddox’s lonely life and the toxic internet and hobbyist outlets offering him solace. Reassuring him that the world is out to get him.
I’m sure these character beats were in Bynum’s script—along with details I adore, like Maddox obscuring his physique with absurd fashions seemingly Frankensteined from his grandpa’s wardrobe, like ugly polos squeezed over massive hoodies—but they’re made magnetically watchable by Majors, even when designed to make us wince. Otherwise unstomachable moments, like Maddox expositorily narrating his too-familiar fan letters to his bodybuilding idol, are made more delicate in Majors’ hands.
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