James Hart

The portions that remain true to the traditional Cunk formula were excellent. It’s still witty and hilarious. However, the fantastic jokes were occasionally punctuated with skits that felt significantly out of place with a very different and less funny style. These skits lacked the wit, subtlety and clever humour of Cunk. It is like this was produced by Americans who felt they could add their own humour to improve on British humour, but who instead really brought down the overall experience.

I'm about 3/4 of the way through this movie and it has been painful to watch. I was curious to see what others thought. Jake Gyllenhaal's character is a good example of what dispatchers should not do at almost every level. In fact, in regards to procedure, getting over-invested in the dispatch role, taking personal calls while on duty, and the dramatic issues of not entering a property without a warrant (when there is probable cause), this movie is more of a disaster than the wildfires burning in the background. The parents in the van as well as the daughter are scripted to be completely unrealistic and incompetent, all for the sake of creating tension. Instead of the intended effect of building suspense, it just left me feeling frustrated and not caring about the wellbeing of any of the characters. This movie could have been so much more and Jake does a decent job with the script he had been given. But like the characters of this movie, he needs to make better choices!