Disturbing yet enthralling

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Superb acting by Dafoe, Vinaite and prince. A deep bow for Baker for handling a deep truth of the lives of millions (and growing ...)of kids and their parents living the broken American dream , with no perspective nor much hope. Reading most of the critics below 3 stars people had handed this movie shows how deep the heads of most who live in America are Stuck in Sand. Sad .

First of all, don't expect a feel-good movie here. Far from it. I don't know if you can actually write a "SPOILER" for this putrid movie. It's rotten already.If you really want to spend a depressing night listening to a foul-mouthed shrew spewing F-bombs and worse in front of rude, unsupervised elementary school kids, here's your movie. If not, don't say you weren't warned. Yeah, I'm gonna judge this piece of garbage. HOW COULD YOU, SEAN BAKER...? How can anyone expose little children to the kind of foul language and adult behavior that the kids in this movie were exposed to? Some of these reviews sicken me, actually PRAISING the filmmaker for a movie with a kid put in the bathroom while her Mom turns tricks in their hotel room.He should not be proud of this, and anyone who thinks this is okay should maybe rethink their own morals here. The ratings led us to choose this on Netflix. It was a big mistake to trust ratings.Don't look for any plot here beyond a series of bad decisions by an awful mother ("Halley") that end up exposing her feral child ("Moonee") to perverts and creeps, and all too predictably, after a long overdue period of her own misbehavior, lead to her kid heading into the foster care system. There is no redemption or growth here. I consider these filmmakers CREEPS and CHILD ABUSERS for making this movie. I feel sorry for any kid whose parent would let their child be involved in such an obscenity-laced production as this. They have allowed their own child to be robbed of their innocence long before their time. They are as irresponsible as the mother portrayed in this movie....or worse, since she was a made-up character and they really did this.Willem Dafoe plays a likeable, decent, humane and admirable motel manager who does his best to protect the pathetic, immature, foul-mouthed Halley from the consequences of her own lunatic actions and appalling parenting. Dafoe and the other semi-decent supporting actors are the only bright spots in this movie and the only reason I'm giving this two stars. ONE FINAL WARNING: As some of the more honest reviewers will admit, this film has an abrupt and unsatisfying ending. Moonee breaks free of Child Protective Services officers and desperately heads for DisneyWorld's Magic Castle with her little friend, Jancey. They simply run in through an unguarded exit, as if that's gonna happen.....and then, as they near the Magic Castle, the movie mercifully just stops.

So there's a mini movie theater in my town and sometimes they have free movie screenings. Last night I went to see this with a friend. We got high right before it started and honestly I don't think I'd understand it even if I wasn't high. It has a really nice vibe and makes you feel things. I'd say it's worth the watch because of how interesting is, to me at least. I'd give it a 10/10 but it wasn't that great.

The Florida Project is one of those movies that you just can't seem to look away from. Overall, I am not unhappy that I watched it (although I was initially), but it is not one I will be watching many times over. In an interview Sean Baker talks about the empathy we feel for the mother and I'm sorry to say that I felt none for her because the filmmaker didn't let me. If they had allowed me to meet people in Halley's life that knew her before she ended up like this, it would have humanized her. I felt nothing for the mother (Halley) other than disapproval. Moonee was hard to like throughout the film and the only reason I felt anything for her is purely the fact that she is a child in a situation that you would never want a child to be in. I don't think Baker did a good job directing her performance except for the last sequence.The character I latched onto the most was William Dafoe's character because he was written with such a complexity and played in such a raw way that I was enamored throughout. The only reason this film came up at the Oscars was because of him clearly. I have heard it compared to Barry Jenkins' Moonlight and my instant reaction is to push back on that. Moonlight was able to craft the coming of age tale in a creative and fresh way. Moonlight immersed you in real scenarios of pain and struggle as one of the characters. Meanwhile, The Florida Project made me feel often as a fly on the wall in the scenes I was more of an observer than embodying the character which made me just want to call the police and end the movie. The most interesting concept the film touches on is kids growing up so close to "the happiest place on earth," but never going there and living in quite the opposite. It did a good job of plunging you into the area of the highway most people just pass right by. I love that the ending doesn't wrap up in a nice little bow and I like some of the scenes that explore childhood shenanigans. I don't hate that this film exists, I think it is important that filmmakers explore this style of cinema veritas, but they can't forget that there still needs to be an affective screenplay (something that I heard Baker often deviates from). In my opinion this movie was close to being something great, but instead is just good. Adding some complexity rather than stubbornness to main characters would have helped.