As I Lay Dying

I like James Franco. I like him a lot. He has delivered one of 2013’s funniest performances in This the End and I believe he should’ve won an Oscar for 127 Hours. That said, his attempt to adapt William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying for the big screen is a strange, tedious affair. It features some confused looking actors on a wagon carting a coffin around while actor Tim Blake Nelson overacts badly through prosthetic, rotting teeth. Franco wrote, directed and starred in this misfire and, while I admire his tenacity, I’m thinking he should’ve spent a little more time on this piece of work. After all, it appears as if he has directed quite a few movies this year, and has many coming up. So, maybe cut the directorial output to one or two films a year, don’t rush things, and for god’s sake, lose the split screen effect. I seriously thought I was watching a combination of Faulkner and Woodstock, with the likelihood of Joe Cocker popping up on the left to sing “With a Little Help From My Friends” always imminent.