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The Trotsky

This Act I was one of the worst-ever.

Premise

It’s never a good idea to make a comedy-drama based on a person who was responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands (according to some, hundreds of thousands) of civilians.

Structure/Plot

Act I was painful. Twice I was thisclose to giving up on the movie, but I wanted to see the high school part that I remembered hearing was the main story. (Once that came, it was too late to regain interest and I ended up fast-forwarding through all the non-school scenes.) And that was the problem- the whole Act I of 25-28 minutes merely set up the idea that Jay Baruchel thought he was the incarnate of Leon Trostsky and went from private school to public school. That should have been 10 minutes.

And Baruchel fighting his father was ridiculous. The father sure seemed like an okay man and that Jay’s complaints about his business were grossly exaggerated (and not in a funny way that that movie seemed to go for).

Character

Jay had no arc. He started in full Trotsky mode, continued that way and ended that way. Not one little change and that’s a kiss of death for movies. Seems the filmmakers here forgot about Gangs of New York.

Here’s how the story should have gone: Spoiled Jay lives a comfy life. Something arises that causes his father to send him to public school. At this new school, he’s surprised by the “fascist” ways of the staff and administration. Act II starts when he decides to fight the power. (Wait a sec- private schools have more rules and higher expectations than public schools!) I still wouldn’t have gone the Trotsky route, but won’t bother thinking of an alternative.

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