FASCINATINGLY craptacular

That this unfathomably inept comedy came from the famously talented writer/director David O. Russell is one of the great modern mysteries of film. Compare the "characters" and dialogue of this epic, epic win for bad film aficionados to the intelligent and witty banter of the unique, memorable characters in Russell's "Three Kings", which happens to be my favorite flick of Mr. O's - a great exercise in balancing a constantly shifting comic tone, especially impressive seeing as how the film concerns itself with war, a subject that's not at all funny in life. The scene were Maj. Gates (George Clooney) explains the grim realities of a bullet wound really creates genuine tension once the bullets start flying in the later combat scenes,

Point being, this is obviously an unusually talented director; his critically and financially successful "The Fighter" is also excellent, and I personally enjoy "I heart Huckabees", though it wasn't a hit with critics or audiences when it came out. I'm not myself a big fan of "Silver Linings Playbook" or to a lesser degree "American Hustle", but I'm in the minority there - they were both huge successes with critics and audiences alike. He can certainly bring out some incredible performances from his actors. All of which makes this "Accidental Love" so furiously, mind-bogglingly messed up. Nothing works. The humor is lamer than a Osmonds reunion - not one joke hits anything close to the mark, and the acting is constantly set to "bat-s**t insane".

What the HELL happened?! How can something like this be possible??

What's happening this year, SERIOUSLY... first we got the lamentable "The Cobbler" from Thomas McCarthy; fresh off a red-hot three-peat of immensely likeable, genuinely funny character studies... Now this.