The Big Picture

The Second Act
falls short of its potential, lacking the sharpness and depth of more impactful satires.
All the jokes are stretched painfully thin and the film fails to delve into any of the ideas it throws out effectively.

The Second Act
ultimately lacks teeth as it remains content to only lightly skewer rather than fully tear apart its subjects.

Considering the number of times that Paul Thomas Anderson is used as a punchline in The Second Act, the latest feature from writer-director Quentin Dupieux, it shouldn’t be entirely surprising that the mind begins to wander to great films like Boogie Nights and The Master. Oh, how one wishes they’d been watching those movies instead of this one. This isn’t because The Second Act is without any redeeming qualities or that it should have to measure up to the work of someone whose mention is premised on that he is a cut above just about anyone else. The greater problem is that it’s too uncertain about how to capitalize on what it has going for it. From a talented cast in Léa Seydoux, Louis Garrel, Vincent Lindon, and Raphaël Quenard to an initial willingness to be ruthless in tearing apart the messy art of moviemaking, it could have been something truly great. Perhaps not PTA great, but great nonetheless.

The Second Act (2024) Florence wants to introduce David, the man she’s madly in love with, to her father Guillaume. But David isn’t attracted to Florence and wants to throw her into the arms of his friend Willy. The four characters meet in a restaurant in the middle of nowhere.Release Date May 14, 2024 Runtime 80 Minutes Main Genre Comedy Studio(s) Chi-Fou-Mi Productions

Instead, just when you think this movie about making movies is starting to get somewhere interesting, it reveals itself to be only a sporadically funny satire with a surprising lack of teeth. In a year that’s already seen the release of the biting and incisive Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, this seems downright tepid by comparison. It isn’t that The Second Act is hindered by its rather broad character archetypes, as they all exist to be vehicles for the gags about the process and ego involved in making movies, as much as it is the way that the rest of the experience plays out. For all the times it calls attention to its own artifice, that doesn’t stop it from feeling quite artificial in its own right. Every joke becomes stretched to a breaking point with the self-proclaimed bad movie these characters are making coming to dominate the experience, leaving the already scattered laughter to fade away.

What is ‘The Second Act’ About?

We first meet characters David (Garrel) and Willy (Quenard) walking along in the woods in an unbroken shot. When the latter begins spewing some hateful ideas about trans people, the former warns him to be careful with his words as people are watching. Yes, the camera itself is acknowledged right out of the gate, and it becomes clear that this is a production about a production. Elsewhere, a similar shot plays out with Florence (Seydoux) and Guillaume (Lindon) carrying out another self-aware conversation that exists to set the stage.

However, rather than feeling like the fourth wall is being truly broken in any meaningful way, it is part of Dupieux just persistently poking at it. Some of this can be somewhat goofy fun, with Seydoux proving to be a real riot in small asides, but the majority of it is rather superficial. When all four actors convene in a remote restaurant, a locale that is practically bursting with potential, they just carry out what they all know to be a generic film. At least, that is what it is initially, as Dupieux proves that he still has one trick up his sleeve. Had he deployed it sooner and with more dexterity, there could have been something more to wrestle with here.

Instead, this is a film that only gestures towards complicated ideas surrounding everything from artificial intelligence to what happens when we put on a performance that is not ourselves. Where such ideas were given brilliant life in the astounding recent The Beast, which also starred Seydoux, everything just feels largely dead here. That this is part of the prolonged farce at play here is fair enough, but perhaps there should be something more to chew on once you’ve repeatedly made the same series of jokes inside this premise.

The Second Act’ Is Only a Half-Hearted Swing

Make your characters truly distasteful and not just abstractions of them. Let’s go for broke in getting into the way that people can become so wrapped up in themselves and what they’re making that they lose sight of the craft along the way. Oh, we’re just going to do the spilling wine bit again? Sure, this ends up being more revealing than it would seem on the surface, but it takes nearly the entire runtime to even start to scrape away at this. Instead, the film is mostly bemusing as the actors, while not playing themselves per se, can have some fun with the knowing winks they give to us. What becomes less engaging is how that seems to be almost all there is, even pulling the rug out from under for us to freefall into nothing.

The aforementioned A.I., a true scourge on all things creative and human, is lightly skewered along with those who would intend to use it to steadily replace the pesky people with the talent and dedication to make art. Perhaps this itself will be enough for those looking for a chuckle, but it almost makes the whole thing into something benign. This is not just painfully easy to fall into, but it ends up being a comedic dodge that nearly undoes the whole thing. Where other filmmakers have managed to find a balance between capturing the comedic banality of our modern dystopia and the broken system that underpins it, The Second Act just dips a toe in before leaping out into safer waters that it can just be silly in. Such absurdity occasionally provides the occasional jolt to the film, but it isn’t enough to keep the motor running. When it finally pulls into its last stop, a closing attempt at a shot across the bow can’t stop it all from stalling out.

The Second Act (2024) REVIEWThe Second Act is a film with plenty of ideas and a great cast, though it only ever skims the surface.Release Date May 14, 2024 Runtime 80 Minutes Main Genre Comedy Studio(s) Chi-Fou-Mi Productions ProsThe cast gets as much as they can out of their characters and the winks they make to the audience. ConsMany of the jokes are overstretched to the point that they nearly break apart.Though never lacking for pressing questions and ideas, The Second Act is never able to go into true depth on any.While the film does have a final trick up its sleeve, it’s deployed too late and with not enough dexterity to the land.

The Second Act had its World Premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.