1) As a movie, Charlie Says fails miserably. It builds no emotional involvement, to the point that you couldn't care less for the murders or for the repentance Van Houten showed. When the movie ended, my reaction was: so what? The elaborate character arc that the director thinks she built is a flat line instead.
2) When a movie aims high and falls so flat, it's guilty of an additional sin: pretentiousness.
3) Everything is uninspired: Charlie is not charming, acting is average at best, cinematography is bad, the script goes through the motions.
4) Wow, there's a brief gender-related dialogue, because yes. I don't think this movie is feminist in a bad sense as some reviews say, but when you add a totally unrelated social/ideological theme in a movie, that smells of politics badly. How to shoot yourself in the foot.
5) The worst thing is the depiction of Van Houten's role. The movie shows an unwilling witness to the murders. The story says she held LaBianca while she was stabbed, and she called for help from Tex. I'm no expert of the case and I don't know what sources the movie cites, but seems like it goes too far in trying to display Van Houten in a good light.
Review of Charlie Says
