Blue Velvet...Meh.

I like odd films. I like everything I've ever seen by Stanley Kubrick, for God's sake. And yet, I can't make myself like Blue Velvet yet. I almost feel like it was trying way too hard. Like it was trying to make itself out to be something that it simply wasn't. I don't think it revealed any huge ideas about the human condition, nor do I think that the symbology was quite as subtle and ingenious as Lynch might have thought it was. 

It was, however, entertaining. The pure absurdness of it made it fun to watch, and the acting, for the most part, was pretty fantastic (hats off to Dennis Hopper, wow). The sexual aspect was interesting, and quite a bit over done, but I didn't find much of it particularly shocking. Maybe the social norm in the 80's was a little less risque than it is today, but I just didn't get a huge shock from the vulgarity. I'm probably a tad desensitized ever since I saw Salo (now there is a banned movie, damn). 

I'm hoping that I simply missed a whole bunch of the point of the movie. Obviously there is a reason we're watching it, and I'm open to the possibility of changing my mind, of being enlightened, but I'm not very optimistic. To me, Blue Velvet was a movie that tried way too hard and ended up sending a love letter to its own foot.