Rubber (2010) - Review
This review is dedicated to David H., who did me the disservice of making me waste eighty-two minutes of my ever-decreasing lifespan to watch this garbage.
I love horror films. I love B-films. My dear friend told me I would love Rubber, an absurd horror comedy about a self-aware, murderous tire. It sounds like it could be funny if done well. It’s not. This movie is terrible in the worst way: it’s boring. It’s been a little while since the night I watched this with my friends, and I’m still seething.
Rubber opens with a monologue. The monologue’s bit revolves around the character saying life is full of “no reason,” and that the film was made for “no reason”. Yes, very funny. So self-aware, so cool. Thank you for warning me ahead of time with the uncharming display of pretension. Telling me ahead of time that your film is bad does not Uno-reverse the film into being good by virtue of self-awareness. The entire film is plagued with it, as for some unthinkable reason, they decided to make the “no reason” meta-narrative the central plot. The lampshading doesn’t work if nothing in the film works.
Shortly after the monologue and meta-narrative about how stupid the film and its viewers are, the tire (his name is Robert) rises from the sand. Within seconds of being alive, he indulges in violence. When he encounters his first victim that he can’t destroy by running over, Robert begins to quake. It turns out, the tire can use telekinesis to make creatures – and heads – explode. I’ll admit, I found this amusing, and it recaptured some of my interest. Sadly, this was the peak of the film. There are a few more meat explosions caused by the tire, but they’re all the same. The meta-narrative occupies most of the screen time, and I simply hated it. Sure, I get it, it’s a deconstruction or whatever. It’s a total snoozefest.
If the director, Quentin Dupieux, had played it straight, and just made a silly film about a killer tire, it would have been at least entertaining. As it stands, Rubber is not scary, funny, or even as witty as Dupieux thinks it is. If I see Dupieux’s name on another film ever again, I will be sure to not waste my time.
TL;DR: One of the most infuriatingly terrible films I have ever seen. 1/5
