Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Brainsbell The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Caryl It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Cor Lumme Playtime features impressive sets, skillful photography, and very little else. We're given no characters to understand or relate to; a number of people appear repeatedly, but they are barely even ciphers and none of them actually qualify as "characters". There is a string of shallow, exceedingly dull events, but certainly no plot. The imagery is neat but never stirs the emotions or feelings. There are chaotic scenes with lots of activity, but even these feel drab and tedious. The film is not sad, or grim, or wistful, or cynical; it is utterly without meaning, a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.If it were a purely experimental film (i.e. just shots of cityscape with no pretense of plot, or perhaps something surreal and obviously nonsensical), this film's shortcomings would be understandable and justified. But Playtime keeps making awkward stabs at forming a plot and presenting jokes, tricking you into believing that it is a cohesive narrative with a point, or at least a simple comedy. The film is neither of these things, and so it ultimately feels like a mean- spirited joke on the gullible viewer.But that's not my biggest problem with the film. My biggest prob is this: Playtime simply DIDN'T NEED to be a motion picture. It would have served its purpose just fine (perhaps better!) if it were just a book of still photographs. There is no adequate justification for making it a moving film.This film could have been really stirring and meaningful if Tati had remembered to give it a point. A much more satisfying artistic film like "Songs From the Second Floor" by Roy Andersson, for instance, appears similar on the surface: like Playtime, it has a dreary tone of alienation, a very vague story, and weary urban characters. Yet "Songs" uses its minimalist elements all very purposefully to impact the viewer in a relatable, emotionally-engaging manner. "Playtime," in contrast, doesn't even have half a film's worth of substance.As for the comedy, there is some minimal slapstick in the film, but its execution is lifeless at best and, more often, frankly terrible. It feels almost as if Tati wrote down some cute joke ideas, then decided to see exactly how dull, lame, awkward & vague he could make them without his audience losing patience and walking out of the theater. Many of the recurring "jokes" don't even qualify as jokes (for instance, a waiter keeps smoothing his hair as he walks around. har-de-har-har.) Instead, they feel like a beginners' improv club aaaalmost coming up with a funny scenario but giving up halfway through.This film may be a decent piece of history for its 1960s aesthetic. But as a viewing experience, it simply lacks anything to justify its overlong running time.

Josh Maxim Okay, let me point out that the only reason this has spoilers is there is no plat, so if you are looking at this review, be warned, the third quarter may be spoiled.Tati's PlayTime to me, is a comedy that has nothing to poke fun at except ourselves. It is the story of how we evolved and how, we are too dependent upon technology and the world around us. One scene in particular to describe this is the scene were Hulot enters the building, and the old man says these thingamajigs aren't helping us out. Tati found that this was comedy, the older gentleman has trouble with the approaching world.The whole film takes place, as we are supposed to believe, is a 24 hour time period about the lives of M. Hulot (or is it a decoy) and the lives of a bunch of American Tourists. While the tourists navigate throughout the bustling streets of modern day Paris, Hulot tries to meet for an interview of some sorts. Well, in the chaos of all this technology, Hulot manages to get lost and give up. Meanwhile, the tourists are just wrapping up at an exhibition for a tech show (if there is a theme, it is the world Technology). After the exhibition wraps up, Hulot meets and old friend in a very suggestive scene. From there he walks at night around Paris and stumbles upon a gentleman he was looking for in the morning. After this encounter, Hulot enters a restaurant on its opening night, which has everything going wrong. Hulot meets one of the tourists while dancing, and wrecking havoc upon the restaurant. They party till dawn where they enter a shop, where Hulot buys the tourist a gift. He doesn't say who it is from, and she leaves, whilst Hulot moves on.The ending just speaks brilliant. It is a photograph f our time, the time that is washing away. Tati walks out at the end, and in real life, he walked out on a lot of things at this time.Tati was broke, sold every film he owned, and made no money on it. If there is ever a story of dedication to the art, it is Tati's story. He is a man that reaches no boundaries, and PlayTime is the high point in that boundary. It is one of my favorite films of all time, and I enjoy after multiple viewings. It speaks to all, and our world. When will we realize technology is bad and not good.

ToliBera2 This is quintessentially the worst film i've ever seen. the pacing was so slow it was going backwards. the comedy in the film was duller than stagnant dishwater. the characters did less than nothing. and the subtitles would pick up on everyone's conversations instead of what was important.then there was the restaurant scene. THE GOD DAMN RESTAURANT SCENE. KNOW WHEN TO END YOUR SCENES MOVIE. this moment in the film dragged on forever. it also teased me horribly giving me hope that the place would burn down and end the film on a happy note. but no it frustrated even on this level. This film is so bad we should bury it under the ET video game cartridges.

Boba_Fett1138 It took me awhile but here is finally a Jacques Tati that I honestly enjoyed watching and appreciated. I have not be very kind before for any of his movies because they were subtle comedies that were just being too subtle and therefore worked out as slow and boring ones for me, that just weren't very funny at all.This movie is basically just like Jacques Tati's other work as well, which means that it has lots of slapstick humor but is being a real subtle one as well. It often takes its time to set up its humor, meaning that some sequences really go on for a long time. However in this case this movie does everything much better and way more effective, comedy-wise, making this a very pleasant and amusing movie to watch.Just like especially Jacques Tati's previous movie "Mon oncle", this movie seems to criticize a lot and is often being a social satire. This time this as well works out better in this movie than in any of his other ones. In "Mon oncle" and in this movie he both makes fun of modern technology, with as a big difference that the technology used in this movie is actually something that really existed and got used. It therefore works out for better and more effective as a satire. The movie is also really kicking against the modern world in general. Architecture, technology, tourism, people's behavior, nothing is safe from Jacques Tati's satire. It seems a bit ridicules, all of the things that Tati's is criticizing with his movie, since you can't really say that all of those changes that were brought into the modern, technological filled world, were all for the worse. But anyway, it all works rather amusing for this movie.It's actually being one of Jacques Tati's longest movies but yet it's far from his most boring one. Even though the movie is still often slowly paced, there is always something real good happening. The timing and running gags in this movie all work out really well and it's humor is really what keeps this movie going.There really isn't a story in this. It's not a point of criticism though, since the movie is simply not about having a story in it. The way the entire movie flows and progresses doesn't always even make much sense once you really start to focus on it. I actually quite like this movie for not having a story in it. It makes the humor and the entire madness of the movie work out all the better really.And the movie can get real crazy at times. The end sequences in the restaurant in which all of the guest and employees are slightly starting to loose it and start misbehaving themselves more and more is absolutely great and a wonderful finale for the movie. It really goes on for a long time and gets build up wonderfully. It all starts out slow and normal but then the one guest enters and the other and another and more problems start to arise. Really, this sequence alone is more than enough reason to watch this movie. But by saying this I feel that I don't give the rest of the movie enough credit as well. It's filled with some wonderful fun moments and great comedy timing and overall execution of it all.It besides is a beautiful looking one as well. It's a movie that got set mostly deliberately indoors. I don't know how much was set and how much was real but either way it's all wonderful looking. The movie has a bit of surreal feel and atmospheric vibe to it all, which I really liked.A Monsieur Hulot movie that I really enjoyed.8/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/