I can only assume that the people that defend this movie loved the book and consequently went in with rose-colored glasses. Having personally only had the "benefit" of skimming the book picked up from a bookstore clearance table, I can only judge this product as a standalone product: and it's awful.
I'm tempted to blame the actors, but it's only because almost every character in the movie is just so unlikeable. Not in a some roguish, incorrigible way as I think the filmmakers would have you believe - just genuinely despicable people. This gross misstep has to fall on the shoulders of the writer(s) and director. I have never seen a movie where anyone that has an ounce of integrity or shows a sign of a moral compass is depicted as the bad guy and gets brutally shot down every time.
I can appreciate a good antihero; it's just that even the "worst" of them usually have some kind of vulnerability or we at least understand their motivation or there is a foil to their character to show them the way or there is a "real" bad guy to root against. Unfortunately, the Tucker Max character is so irredeemable that by the end of the movie there is nothing he can reveal about himself that justifies his malice.
This is in addition to the fact that the movie is ugly to look at, lacking the production values of most straight-to-DVD movies (which I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell should have been).
I'm tempted to blame the actors, but it's only because almost every character in the movie is just so unlikeable. Not in a some roguish, incorrigible way as I think the filmmakers would have you believe - just genuinely despicable people. This gross misstep has to fall on the shoulders of the writer(s) and director. I have never seen a movie where anyone that has an ounce of integrity or shows a sign of a moral compass is depicted as the bad guy and gets brutally shot down every time.
I can appreciate a good antihero; it's just that even the "worst" of them usually have some kind of vulnerability or we at least understand their motivation or there is a foil to their character to show them the way or there is a "real" bad guy to root against. Unfortunately, the Tucker Max character is so irredeemable that by the end of the movie there is nothing he can reveal about himself that justifies his malice.
This is in addition to the fact that the movie is ugly to look at, lacking the production values of most straight-to-DVD movies (which I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell should have been).