20th Century Women

“20^th Century Women” was written and directed by Mike Mills, It boasts a fine ensemble cast led by Annette Benning with Billy Crudup, Greta Gerwig, Elle Fanning and Lucas Jede Zumann who each give gifted and meaningful performances. Unfortunately, the star value and the once good idea behind the screenplay fail to save this film from being slow and discombobulated as it strives to reach its unattainable goal. This, once again, is the classic case of the writer and director being one in the same  person with no 3^rd party filter to help cut, edit and alter the film into something cohesive and easy to watch. Mr. Mills, like most who assume these dual roles, becomes married to his own material, is afraid to alter it and never really allows the audience  to properly see, forgive the pun, the “big picture”.  I give the film 2 stars because yawning 3 times during the film and checking my watch 4 is testament enough to why it deserves such a low rating.