This film is considered a sci-fi classic and is held up as a shining example of Steven Spielberg's talent as a director. I can't argue with any of that but, having only just seen it a week ago, I will tell you this: it's not my favorite.Part of that may be because I was forced to watch it rather than chose to watch it of my own accord. I wasn't opposed per se, it was in my Netflix queue, but I didn't necessarily feel in the mood to watch it at that moment.
Electrical lineman Roy (Richard Dreyfuss) and a handful of other people find their lives irrevocably changed after witnessing UFOs in the sky. They become compelled to recreate tones they heard or images they saw in any medium they can find, stressing their relationships to the breaking point. Meanwhile, the governments of the world scramble to put together an international team to understand this otherworldly contact, led by French UN scientist Claude Lacombe (Francois Truffaut).
I struggled to pay attention during the first half of the film, a fact which my mom yelled at me about even though she usually can't sit through a two-hour movie without having to get up twenty times. But I digress. Normally, I can do the slow burn. Jaws takes forever to get cracking but it's worth the payoff. Close Encounters just did not grab me in the same way. I couldn't identify with the characters, especially Roy's wife, played by Teri Garr. I really couldn't understand what her problem was and her hysterical screeching irritated the shit out of me. Most of the visual effects stand up but the aliens themselves look horribly dated.
I'm not going to hate on anybody for enjoying this movie. I understand why it's a classic and I recognize the skill it takes to craft a movie like that, especially in the late 70's. I just didn't enjoy it. I'm not a huge E.T. fan, either, but that movie meant more to me because it came out the year I was born. I have no connection to Close Encounters and I doubt I'd ever watch it again.
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