The old adage when it comes to film and TV is that no one sets out to make a bad film.
Often times even the worst films around, you can see the plot and understand why someone might think that would make a good film.
Sometimes though, the plot alone is enough to look at something and go ‘well that was never going to be great, was it?’
Netflix’s newest major film, Uglies, is one that fans are arguing falls into that category, despite debuting at number two in the UK and number one globally.
The dystopian movie, which stars Joey King, released this past weekend, and has an utterly bizarre plot so weird some are calling it the ‘dumbest of all time’.
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To set the scene the film’s name Uglies may seem a weird one, but is actually central to the plot of the movie.
The movie is set in a dystopian future in which the world is ruled by ‘Pretties’, a group of people who look like they’ve been force fed through an Instagram filter.
It follows a group of ‘Uglies’ who live in the woods and await surgery they receive at 16 to make them into ‘Pretties’, hoping that they themselves will be fed through the Brat-doll-Instagram-filter.
It follows Joey King’s character Tally who rebels against the Pretties.
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With the film debuting to a 19 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, fans have been shocked to find out what the plot of the film actually is.
One viewer tweeted: “This uglies movie on Netflix gotta be one of the dumbest plots of all time.”
In Adrian Horton’s one star review of the film for The Guardian, they called the film: “An empty and exasperating teen book adaptation, set in a future where beautiful people rule the world, is one of the year’s most pointless films.”
Their review went on to say: “Like the Prettys’ modifications, everything feels synthetic, from the ample CGI in the cheap-looking Netflix house style (overlit, bright colors, flat sheen) to the dialogue stripped of any interesting, specific characteristics beyond necessity for plot and baldly stated theme.
“Though it supposedly argues against human beings turned into synthetic quasi-droids, Uglies feels like just another throwaway product.”
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The film, based on a successful series of books, leaves an opening for a follow up in the ending – but fans are not entirely convinced.
One commented on a post in the Facebook group Netflix Bangers: “My husband and I watched it last night and both thought the special effects were lacking, and the dialogue was awkward in a lot of parts. All in all not a great movie. We didn’t like how it ended either.”
Another said: “The movie sucks. They totally changed the ending and ruined the character arc”.
Uglies is available on Netflix now
Topics: Film, Netflix, TV and Film
Michael Slavin