Jojo Rabbit

Who would have thought that a movie about World War II Germany at the end of the war could be so darn funny. Taika Waititi is able to take the dark and disturbing topic of antisemitism into comedy with it's absurdity. Waititi even plays the main man Hitler himself as the imaginary friend of Jojo Rabbit (Roman Griffin Davis). Davis plays a sympathetic young boy indoctrinated by the Nazi propaganda. He eventually discovers that his mother (Scarlett Johansson) has been hiding a 18 year old Jewish girl Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie) in their home. Jojo must grapple with the idea of someone he hates living in his house and how he can deal with it. His best answer is to write a book and interview the girl. Through this process he learns and grows wrestling with the differences and similarities between Elsa and himself. There are sporadic comedic appearances from Yorki (Archie Yates), Jojo's best friend who is an absolute delight to watch. His comedic timing is fantastic and his normalizing responses to the craziness that surrounds Jojo is fascinating. Another stand out performance is Sam Rockwell who plays Captain Klenzendorf, a one-eyed war veteran who is slowly disconnecting from the Propaganda and seeing it for what it truly is. Rockwell is a true highlight of the film and his play of of Alfie Allen, fresh off of Game of Thrones. Their sparing and care for each other is a welcome relief for all the hateful antisemitism, even if it is in parody, in the film.

Scarlett Johnasson. Wow. If there ever was a perfect example of what is wrong with the Academy Awards, she is it. She has almost the least amount of screen time and yet she is the one who gets the nomination. Thomasin McKenzy puts on a masterful performance as a lost in a world of hate Jewish girl while Johanson plays a happy mother trying to keep the cruelties of the world from her son. Don't get me wrong, ScarJo is not bad in this film, she is just not great. And for the amount of time she is on screen, it is not even close to worth an Oscar nod. McKenzy on the other hand does a wonderful job showing a wide range of emotions and depth. Where is her nod? And that is just to say in the same movie. There are many other performances in other films this year that are far better than Johnasson is here. The Oscars really need to reexamine themselves if they want to be relevant in the future because Johansson already has black marks to her name and if they continue nominating performances like hers over other truly masterful ones, no one is going to care if you get an Oscar or not.

Easily a B+ film with only minor detraction's from regrettable performances like Rebel Wilson.