Linoleum (2022)

13 Jul 2023

Rating: 2.5/5

Jim Gaffigan is a Bill Nye surrogate — a man who has an educational show for kids, though he always wished he could have been an astronaut

When a satellite crashes into his house, he uses the opportunity to rebuild it as a rocket. When a red Corvette manned by his doppelgänger falls out of the sky, his sense of reality begins to slip

Think less Charlie Kaufman and more Richard Kelly

I haven’t seen a movie this influenced by Donnie Darko before — fucky time stuff, a slow-mo sequence that would go quite well with Head Over Heels by Tears for Fears, a mysterious older woman, a house party, etc

The script is cohesive — you can check off the list of notes the movie is supposed to hit — but the finale swings for the fences, and I’m not sure they make it work

Ultimately, the movie is about regret, about living other people’s dreams, and about the irrationality of the universe

Overall, it felt too familiar and didn’t seem to have its own identity, but it was a mostly enjoyable film to watch

Stray Thoughts


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