My thoughts:
You know you are a terrible, terrible person without a heart, when you don't swoon over tear-jerkers like The Whale (2022). Instead of sobbing, you suddenly find yourself cringing, gagging and rolling your eyes. In my defense, I really, really wanted to like and empathize with the main character. It's just that the writers went a little ... overboard in their attempt to create an Olympic all-around martyr to cater to the woke audiences.
It's nice to see Brendan Fraser get away from his usual adventurous pretty boy image. It's true what they say: if you want to establish yourself as a "serious" Oscar-worthy actor, you should put on 100 pounds (or at least a fat suit) or play a mentally ill character. Fraser's character is a yummy triple threat: morbidly obese, depressed AND gay. With a cherry on top: mourning his dead boyfriend, for whom he had left his wife years earlier. What's not to love. A perfect storm of popular triggers. You see, if Charlie had left his wife for another woman, he'd be just another "cheating scumbag". But since he left his wife for his male student, it somehow makes him more ... sympathetic? As if the marginalized status of gays somehow softens and neutralizes the sting of abandonment. You know Charlie is a good person (sarcasm alert), because he leaves morsels of cold junk food for pigeons. This way poor rats of the sky can partake in his food addiction. You know how selfless he is (again, sarcasm alert) for avoid medical attention for his mounting health problems, because he is - awwwww - saving that money for his estranged daughter. He feels guilty for letting her down, so he wants the rest of the world to feel guilty with him. By deliberately destroying his body and refusing medical care, he makes himself a martyr. If you, like me, have been "blessed" with a self-destructive parent who engages in similar behavior, you will absolutely gag at this flamboyant, manipulative self-sacrifice. Brendan Fraser was hailed by many viewers and critics for his tour-de-force performance as a grotesque figure. In his defense, he did the best he could do with an implausible script. He did his best to portray a character who's nothing more than a compilation of trauma, most of it self-induced.
