The Beach Bum 2019 * * 1/2 Stars

Director: Harmony Korine
Year: 2019
Rated R
Rating: * * 1/2 Stars
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Snoop Dogg, Isla Fisher

Stephen Bishop's "On and On" is featured on the soundtrack of The Beach Bum (my latest review). "Beach Bum" the movie, well it wanders massively. It too just goes "on and on". On another note, Eddie Money's "Two Tickets to Paradise" is featured as well. "Beach Bum's" setting is "paradise" that stinks real pretty.

The Beach Bum while amusing, still could've used a slight mantra of a script. It's about a drugged-up writer named Moondog who must pen a final poetry book in order to claim the rich inheritance of his dead wife. Foul-mouthed, sloppy, g-stringed, pot enhanced, and containing clips of simultaneous junk grabbing, The Beach Bum comes off like a bunch of random scenes snipped from the cutting room floor. I was regaled but sort of shook my head as the final credits came up.

So OK, "Beach Bum" is like 1987's Barfly for the South Beach circuit. It's also kinda like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas without the souped-up paranoia. With a look containing purple, orange, and blue hues, The Beach Bum might be the most beautiful, scuzzbucket of a movie I've ever seen. "One day I will swallow up the world". Indeed.

"Beach Bum" is directed by Harmony Korine. Harmony makes films and I don't think he cares whether you like them or not. As a legend in the art of off-kilter framing and pitying, self-indulgence, Korine puts his muse (Matthew McConaughey as Moondog) in nearly every frame.

McConaughey as a gentler version of Mickey Rourke's Henry Chinaski, doesn't really give a performance. He just acts a fool without knowing that the cameras are even rolling. Matthew's Moondog is the type of footloose character we all want to be for a day. The sad part is I don't think anyone would even attempt to try it.

In conclusion, "Beach Bum" has well known actors like Zac Efron, Snoop Dogg, Jonah Hill, and Martin Lawrence making appearances but not exactly registering in terms of plot mechanics (or lack of plot mechanics). They are there to sort of ensure that Moondog is the Forrest Gump or Zelig of kooky junkies.

Bottom line: The Beach Bum slightly hinders its message about being yourself and not caring what the heck anybody thinks. This flick might turn out to be a stoner classic as long as you actually get stoned while watching it (for the record, I don't endorse this action). Heck, if I had a dime for every time someone lit up a joint in "Beach Bum", I'd be a darn millionaire. Rating: 2 and a half stars.

Written by Jesse Burleson