The 9th and presumably the penultimate film from the writer-director Quentin Tarantino, One Upon A Time in Hollywood, stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, and a plethora of other big actors.

The movie follows Rick Dalton, a fading action star, and Cliff Booth, Rick’s stuntman/driver/best friend. The two, especially the former, are trying to adjust to the rapidly-changing 1960’s entertainment landscape. On the other hand, the movie also heavily features a young Sharon Tate, one of the real-life victims of the horrific Manson family murders, who is ebullient with the endless opportunities in Los Angeles.

Positives

Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt have excellent chemistry and both deliver terrific performances. Right off the bat, one can tell that Rick and Cliff have been best friends for a long time and have a trust/respect for each other. Leo’s scenes with a precocious little girl are scene-stealing and help humanize his character. But, it’s his scene after a big screw-up in a trailer that made his character all the more sympathetic and relatable. Rather than bottling it in, Rick absolutely vents his anger/embarrassment on himself, something we’ve all done in our lives. Even though Leo’s Rick is the main character, Brad Pitt absolutely steals the movie, with his Inglorious Basterds-Esque Lt. Aldo Raine impression. Unlike Rick’s more lavish residence, Cliff lives in a trailer but is seemingly content with his life.

Even though Once Upon A Time struggles with its narrative (more on that later), it absolutely succeeds with the comedy. This is a hilarious film, with some of the year’s funniest moments. The “Bruce Lee” v Cliff Booth fight scene is easily the funniest, gut-wrenching laughter scene this whole year. In addition, dialogue such as “Anybody accidentally kills anybody in a fight, they go to jail. It’s called manslaughter” or “Anybody order fried sauerkraut! Ha, you Nazi bastards!” is hilarious and once again remind us just how good Tarantino is with his screenplays. Even though the ending is arguably more self-indulgent, as Tarantino inserts his signature blood and gore, it is extremely satisfying and fun to watch.

The production design, editing, and cinematography are all deliberate and stellar. Speaking of the production design, I felt as if I was actually living in the 1960s and Tarantino really takes time in showcasing that particular setting.

Negatives

Like many Tarantino films, this movie doesn’t appear to have much of a plot and this is especially guilty of it. Even though the synopsis suggests that Leo’s character, Rick Dalton, is a fading star, the movie doesn’t really explore that. Instead, Tarantino is more concerned with dedicating huge chunks of time to his characters doing random things, without any sort of a throughline. Once Upon A Time is extremely unfocused and doesn’t really have much of a narrative.

Margot Robbie’s Sharon Tate was arguably the most difficult character to include in the movie. After all, Tate was brutally murdered by Manson’s followers and depicting such a violent, macabre scene might have turned off many viewers. As a result, Tarantino decides to have Tate in the movie, without necessarily having anything for her character to do. Tate is just present and has scenes that have no impact whatsoever to the “story.” Tarantino could easily have cut 15-25 minutes of the film.

Without going into spoilers, Tarantino does subvert expectations, especially revolving the real-life incidents. If you liked the Hitler sequences in Inglorious Basterds, you’ll get a kick out of this one too.

Rating – Absolute Recommendation

Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood is an entertaining film, with terrific performances from Leo and Pitt, who also have great chemistry. Their friendship arguably makes this movie this fun to watch. Where this movie suffers, unfortunately, is with its narrative and non-existent character arcs. Still, it’s a dam good watch!