{"id":7964,"date":"2024-11-02T20:31:02","date_gmt":"2024-11-03T00:31:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=7964"},"modified":"2024-11-02T20:31:02","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T00:31:02","slug":"welcome-to-marwen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/11\/02\/welcome-to-marwen\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcome to Marwen"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Welcome to Marwen <\/strong>(2018)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Universal\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 116 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (sequences of fantasy violence, some disturbing images, brief suggestive content, thematic material, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Robert Zemeckis\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Caroline Thompson and Robert Zemeckis\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Alan Silvestri\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: C. Kim Miles\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 21, 2018 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Steve Carell, Leslie Mann, Diane Kruger, Merritt Wever, Janelle Monae, Eiza Gonzalez, Gwendoline Christie, Leslie Zemeckis, Stefanie von Pfetten, Neil Jackson, Falk Hentschel, Matt O\u2019Leary, Nikolai Witschl, Patrick Roccas, Alexander Lowe.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $10.8M (US)\/$13.1M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: * \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0Welcome to Marwen<\/strong>, a rare misfire from Robert Zemeckis, definitely won\u2019t win any Oscars but it has my vote for the Patch Adams Award for Most Shamelessly Manipulative Drama of 2018. I still can\u2019t believe it was made by the same guy who directed Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Forrest Gump, Contact, The Polar Express, Flight and so many other good movies.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Like Patch Adams before it, Welcome to Marwen<\/strong> is based on a true story of a man who overcomes adversity to become a notable figure in his field. In this case, it\u2019s Mark Hogancamp, an artist who suffered permanent brain damage as a result of a hate crime. Once a gifted illustrator, a brutal assault by five men left him with no memory of his life before the attack. It also robbed him of his ability to draw or even write his own name. What he did to compensate is remarkable. So why is Welcome to Marwen<\/strong> so unremarkable?<\/p>\n

\u00a0Steve Carrel, also on screens as Donald Rumsfeld in Vice, plays Hogancamp who we meet some time after the attack. In his backyard, he\u2019s built a fictional WWII-era Belgian village called Marwen. He uses dolls to act out scenarios that he photographs. It\u2019s his way of coping with his PTSD. The dolls represent people from his life. The hero of his fantasies is \u201cCap\u2019n Hoagie\u201d, an American pilot who always needs saving by the women of Marwen. The female dolls represent his real-life female friends- e.g. Roberta (Wever, Nurse Jackie), the woman from the hobby shop who \u201clikes\u201d him; Julie (Monae, Hidden Figures), an injured vet he meets in rehab and Anna (Christie, The Force Awakens), his Russian caretaker. Together they fight a squad of Nazis who represent the goons who attacked him outside a bar after learning of his fondness for wearing women\u2019s shoes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0There\u2019s something of a romance in Welcome to Marwen<\/strong>. Mark falls instantly in love with new neighbor Nicol (Mann, This Is 40) who moves into the house across the street. For no good reason, she has an abusive ex-boyfriend who keeps showing up at her house. Mark goes out and buys a doll representative of her and incorporates her into his fantasies. His feelings for Nicol are more like a fixation; they\u2019re creepy rather than charming. This subplot feels weirdly out of place in a so-called inspirational picture. It\u2019s just one of many issues I have with Welcome to Marwen<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The main problem with Welcome to Marwen<\/strong> is in its telling. In short, it\u2019s told in too superficial a manner to elicit any sort of emotional response from the viewer. The story of Hogancamp has great dramatic potential that fails to materialize thanks to Zemeckis\u2019 flat direction, especially in the live-action scenes. I will concede that the scenes with the dolls are artistically well-done. Zemeckis\u2019 strong suit has always been special effects. Even in movies that aren\u2019t great- e.g. Death Becomes Her, A Christmas Carol- you can always count on great visuals. But effects only carry a movie so far and in the case of Welcome to Marwen<\/strong>, it\u2019s not far at all. When it gets back to reality, we\u2019re reminded of the superficial nature of the movie. It glosses over things it shouldn\u2019t like how the attack somehow cured Mark of his alcoholism. It doesn\u2019t even bother to go into detail about what he was like before the attack. Of course, he doesn\u2019t remember anything but surely others would fill him in. It also short-changes viewers of details of his rehabilitation. In real life, the insurance companies cut him off long before he completed his physical therapy. That\u2019s not even mentioned. Too much pertinent info is revealed via dialogue instead of flashbacks which would have been more interesting for audiences.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Dramatically, Welcome to Marwen<\/strong> is inert. You can tell it wants to move viewers in how it leads up a big climactic courtroom scene where Mark finally faces his assailants. He makes a victim impact statement which, I suppose, is meant to move viewers to tears. It doesn\u2019t. The scene fails to hit the necessary emotional high notes. Not only that, we don\u2019t even find out what sentences the judge hands down, not even in the epilogue which only informs us that Mark is still a successful photographer. I really had to look on-line to learn of the attackers\u2019 fates (only three of the five saw the inside of a jail cell).<\/p>\n

\u00a0Carrel plays Mark Hogancamp like he plays most of his roles, as a not-too-bright milquetoast. I seriously doubt the real Mark Hogancamp is anything close to that. For reality\u2019s sake, he occasionally freaks out and dives for cover. That\u2019s about it. I never got the sense he was playing a real-life person. Mann does her best with a thinly-written role. It would be pointless to comment on the other performances due to the shallow characterizations. We don\u2019t get to know most of the women who serve as Mark\u2019s protectors. Story elements are introduced only to be dropped or forgotten. The score by Alan Silvestri enables the movie in its efforts to manipulate the audience.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Honestly, Welcome to Marwen<\/strong> is as perfunctory a drama as I\u2019ve ever seen. It\u2019s a little bit interesting in parts, but the overall effect leaves a lot to be desired. I\u2019m sure there\u2019s an interesting story to be told about Mark Hogancamp, but Welcome to Marwen<\/strong> is definitely not it.*<\/p>\n

*= Some friends have recommended the 2010 documentary Marwencol. I\u2019ll be looking it up very soon.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Marwen (2018)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Universal\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 116 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (sequences of fantasy violence, some disturbing images, brief suggestive content, thematic material, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Robert Zemeckis\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Caroline Thompson and Robert Zemeckis\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Alan Silvestri\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: C. Kim Miles\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 21, 2018 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Steve Carell, Leslie Mann, Diane Kruger, Merritt Wever, Janelle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8101,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dramas","category-this-sucks-so-bad"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Welcome-to-Marwen-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7964"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8103,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7964\/revisions\/8103"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}