Bliss 2021

     This movie is a mind-bending love story following Greg in Los Angeles.  He is recently divorced and then fired from his job.  When he went to meet with his boss, he didn’t know he was going to be fired?  His boss was standing in front of him and when Greg stood up he accidentally knocked his boss over.  He fell against his desk and died instantly when he hit his head.  Greg parked the body standing up against the office window and behind the drapes?  The body can be seen from the street??  Greg meets the mysterious Isabel and she is a woman living on the streets.  Isabel is convinced that the polluted, broken world around them is just a computer simulation.  Doubtful at first, Greg eventually discovers there may be some truth to Isabel's wild conspiracy theories.

     There is drug addiction in a way that's both explicit and confusing.  The main character, Greg appears addicted to painkillers but he quickly finds himself taking drugs in the form of crystals?  He believes they give him superpowers and transport him to an imagined paradise?  He begins living with Isabel on the streets.  His grown daughter attempts to bring him back into her life.  She is also hurt that he didn’t remember to attend her high school graduation!!  

     In one world, Greg and Isabel are wealthy accomplished doctors living in a chalet with ocean views.  In the other world, they live in a homeless encampment.  Isabel apparently sidelines as a prostitute and they use their powers to hurt people.  They toss them out windows, knock them down or crush cars with them inside.  Other than the crystals that Greg and Isabel take, there's also alcohol consumption and references to heroin on the city streets.  There is some language, Isabel shoots a man but Greg told her to kill him by crushing his skull with a rock instead?  Would that have been better or kinder?  There is everything and possibly the kitchen sink thrown into this movie?  It’s difficult to tell what is real and what is fiction?  3* (This movie is OK)

103 min, Drama directed and written by Mike Cahill with Owen Wilson, Salma Hayek, Nesta Cooper, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Ronny Chieng, Steve Sizzis, Joshua Leonard, Madeline Aima, Bill NMye, Slavoj Zizek, DeRon Horton, Eugene Young, Dayne Catalano, Adam William Zastrow.

Imdb 5.2* out of 10* with 3,321 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 31% with 75 critic reviews 42% with 100+ audience scores, Metacritic 38 out of 100 with 19 critic reviews 5.4 out of 10 with 9 user scores, Roger Ebert 2* Nick Allen, IndieWire Grade D+ Kate Erbland, Common Sense Media Jennifer Green 2* out of 5*, age 16+, 1* positive messages, 2* positive role models, consumerism, 3* sex, 4* language, drinking, drugs and smoking, Letterboxd 2.2* out of 5*.

Special Note:  Salma Hayek also played another character named Isabel in Fools Rush In.  That film is also a romantic comedy about two people who quickly form a relationship due to unusual circumstances.