Movies like '400 Days' are hard to judge. They're hard to judge because you never truly know just how smart the filmmakers actually are. The whole thing is a mass of confusion for both the characters and the audience. We are never entirely sure what is going on, we can only guess in the meantime and wait for the movie to reveal itself. However in this film it never happens. We are left with no answers and only the choice to make up our own mind. Now this is all well and good as long as writer/director Matt Osterman actually knew the answer while making the film and left a plausible route for us to come to the correct solution. Afterall, a puzzle with no actual answer isn't a lot of fun. For all I know he absolutely did do this and I'm just not smart enough to work it out. But as it stands I think I was confused enough near the end that either answer Osterman could have given us would have been shocking enough to justify revealing. This is what leads me to believe he may not have had a genuine answer in mind.
The ending aside though I would have to say overall I enjoyed the film. The premise was an interesting one that would be hard to be entirely bored by. The cast performed adequately, including Dane Cook who I was mildly surprised to see come on screen I'll admit. I've seen the odd mention of a 'Twilight Zone' feel about it and I would certainly have to agree with that. I'm not sure how often 'The Twilight Zone' left ambiguous endings but never mind. I think the ending is where a lot of the negativity surrounding the film is coming from and that's a real shame, because there's an original tale being told here that probably deserves a better reception than it's getting at the moment.
The ending aside though I would have to say overall I enjoyed the film. The premise was an interesting one that would be hard to be entirely bored by. The cast performed adequately, including Dane Cook who I was mildly surprised to see come on screen I'll admit. I've seen the odd mention of a 'Twilight Zone' feel about it and I would certainly have to agree with that. I'm not sure how often 'The Twilight Zone' left ambiguous endings but never mind. I think the ending is where a lot of the negativity surrounding the film is coming from and that's a real shame, because there's an original tale being told here that probably deserves a better reception than it's getting at the moment.