What do you get when you combine inane dialogue, a lackluster plot, half-developed characters, and a terrible musical score? Ash Wednesday. The film had potential to be at least mediocre, but it just didn't work. The film was based around a weak, predictable plot that was filled with glaring plot-holes, and the characters and relationships were too underdeveloped to even make the film a character-driven story. Characters wander in and out of the plot without ever gathering much sympathy or hatred from audiences, and eventually it becomes difficult to care what happens to any of them. Even their dialogue is pitiful: swearing is fine in movies, but this film goes beyond overkill with its ridiculous amount of profanity, even to the point where it becomes distracting. Rather than encouraging viewers to listen for meaning in the characters' words, this film's dialogue quickly becomes a game of seeing just how many variations of the "F word" can be jammed into a single sentence. Just in case the film itself isn't horrible enough, the musical score is also horrendous. It has some sort of bizarre attempt at a musical motive, but it is annoyingly repetitive and changes little from scene to scene. When the film finally limps into its unsatisfying conclusion, those few who managed to sit all the way through it will be wishing that they hadn't wasted 98 minutes of their lives suffering through this film.
Review of Ash Wednesday
