Bliss

The problem with this film is that it's hard to believe any of it. You could argue that Bliss is intentionally confusing so as to reflect the disorientation of its main character, but that doesn't make for a compelling 103-minute watch. As an allegory for drug addiction, there's a lot of material here that a less-convoluted exposition could have explored more genuinely. The idea that we can only appreciate the good in our lives or on our planet when we experience its opposite, in this case a blue-tinged and drug- and crime-addled urban cityscape, is also interesting, but the film's social, political, and climate messages never quite congeal inside the sci-fi constructions of simulated worlds, fake generated people, synthetic biology, and asteroid mining. This, even despite cameos from trustworthy experts like Bill Nye the Science Guy and philosopher Slavoj Zizek.

Unfortunately, the characters are also unconvincing: Hayek and Wilson are both accomplished actors, but neither feels right for their roles here. Greg comes across as too trusting and witless, and the speed with which his relationship with the manipulative Isabel takes off is dizzying. Wilson also has a way of speaking that sounds sarcastic even when what he's saying isn't, and it throws some dialogues off. Hayek's embodiment of Isabel is also a bit off, a potentially deliberate but unappealing performance. The one character and storyline that does ring true is Emily. The idea that she manages to squeeze through a crack between Greg's real and imaginary worlds, entirely out of love for him and a refusal to give up trying to get her dad back, gives the film a single compelling storyline to grab onto. The script smartly ends with their reunion shortly after an emotional rehab scene played powerfully by Wilson.