#as writer

I don’t mean to be too harsh on this film. It had a strong start. I liked how they were setting up a theme of how abusive/toxic men will try to force or manipulate their way into a relationship. Beetlejuice is the text book definition of a predator. Had they been able to land the theme of having self respect and not letting someone push you around, I think this could have been a great film. It’s frustrating for me as a writer to watch a film cut out time to develop its story to make room for more joke. And you can really feel it by the end. Especially when the jokes don’t land. There are a lot of jokes that go on for far too long. 

This film has so many side plots that go no where. Beetlejuice ex wife was in this film because? She had such a cool design! And scene of her putting herself back together, *chief kiss* AMAZING! But she has no plot relevance. She literally shows up at the end to just scare Beetlejuice and die. Also why can Beetlejuice freeze the cop but not her? There were so many plot conveniences at the end of this film that it seemed like the writers were just rushing to find a way to end the film.

Astrid storyline quickly got under cut by that awkward family reunion. I would have liked to have seen more of her Dad. They spend so much time talking about him, but he’s barely gets any time to shine. The whole family reunion scene felt so uncomfortable for the wrong reasons. I get that their married was failing, but idk let Lydia and her dead husband have more than three lines to each other. This was suppose to be the emotional climax that brings last living Deetz together and it felt so hollow. I don’t think I was sold on any relationship other than Charles and Delia. I cringe so often during this film. Every emotional moment felt so hollow by the end.

Willem Dafoe did not need to be in this film as much as he was. He was funny at first, but that cop actor joke got tired fast. He doesn’t really do anything either. He could have just been a smaller antagonist for Lydia as she tried to save her daughter. We don’t need investigator Dafoe. Also we need to talk about Delia. While Delia death was funny, why did we kill her off? Her death felt like it should have had more weight, but again it just felt underwhelming. I think I could go on and on covering every weak story point, but then this would be ten pages long.