Did anybody else see this? It came up in my #3 most popular on Netfix and it had some positive reviews so I watched it. Spoilers.

I'll say quickly - the first half hour of this movie is masterful and gripping. There is a 20 minute birth scene filmed in one take that is very powerful and sets the bar very high. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie is not only kind of boring, the dialogue and plot is amateurish and bizarre.

The characters don't act like humans ever have. They say exactly what they're thinking with no subtext or cleverness and it comes across like a play written by an alien who has never spoken to a human. Examples includes, Shia Labeouf's character (a recovered addict) borrows a cigarette from someone and lights it. His mother in law (played by Ellen Burstyn) yells at him: "Sean! Don't! You'll relapse!". Not only is that an incredibly bizzare thing to say, he does indeed relapse in the next few scenes. I don't know why the writer driector felt the need to lampshade that so obviously.

Ellen Bustyn's character has a VERY long monologue to the other characters in which she explains she was a victim of the Holocaust in Hungary. It comes out of nowhere and is completely inorganic. Any acting skills Bustyn displays are overshadows by the weirdness of the writing.

I stopped watching this about 80 percent of the way through, but I doubt the final few scenes redeem it. It's such a shame because the first Act is so amazing and there is a great movie in here somewhere, underneath the on the nose dialogue and unbelievable plot machinations.

Did anyone else feel this way? The reviews are mostly positive so maybe I'm just crazy.