I spent most of this film’s running time worrying about the Bluetooth headset that I’d misplaced somewhere … to summarize the plot, Jack (Sean Penn) wakes up, walks to work, travels up an elevator, has some meetings at the office, rides back down the elevator, and walks back home as the sun starts setting. During the day, he reminisces about growing up in 1950s suburban Texas. The good parts are random scenes evoking childhood feelings, and a pretty cool but irrelevant CGI sequence showcasing the birth of the universe and of life on Earth.  But nothing really hangs together

It’s not quite as bad as Penn’s previous overwrought outings (such as The Assassination of Richard Nixon), similar ponderous dross with grand illusions of pretension (e.g. The Namesake, Atonement), or other nonsensical impressionist works (e.g. David Lynch’s Inland Empire) – but it’s certainly not worth sitting through 138 minutes for ultimately a padded nature documentary.  Nor is it Oscar material, by any stretch, Palme d’Or or no.

Pretentious.

 (out of 5)