One Thing I Like About The End of Oak Street

The one moment that changed my impression of The End of Oak Street was during the end credits. The man sitting next to me turned to the person he was with and said, “That was such a good movie.” I’d been sitting in the theater practically fuming over what a bad time I was having, mentally deducting a half-star from my rating for every grievance, doing the “whatever, I guess” gesture whenever the movie made a decision I didn’t like1, getting angry at the movie for wanting the image of dinosaurs in suburbia without knowing where to go with it, getting angry at myself for expecting something different. All while surrounded by people who were just sitting there the whole time enjoying themselves. To be clear, it wasn’t a case of my heart growing three sizes, my realizing I’d been a big ol’ grumpus, and deciding to meet the movie halfway and appreciate it for what it was. I’d gone in expecting the “fun romp” that I keep seeing people describe it as, but I thought it was a nearly relentless…