Emerald Fennell sure has seen a lot of movies! This was good transgressive, seedy fun. But let’s be clear, aside from Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan might be the least appealing or charismatic actor consistently working in film.
And his creepy blandness kind of works for this movie. But I also kept thinking of how much more compelling Matt Damon and Phillip Seymour Hoffman were in the Talented Mister Ripley in similar roles to Keoghan and Elordi.
Which is kind of like comparing the starting point guard and center of our high school basketball team to Jalen Brunson and Karl Anthony Towns. Technically I guess they’re playing the same sport, but the quality of game is not even close.
Saltburn would be about 100x more interesting if each actor in this film was at Rosamund Pike’s level. But Keoghan and Elordi’s streaming TV game only takes it so far. It’s easy to see why Josh O’Connor and Timmy Chalamet are cast in every major role in every major film.
That said, I liked the direction and color design and even the pacing of this film. I just wish it had much, much better performances.