David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive is polarizing. For some, it’s the greatest movie they have ever seen. For me, it was a blend of ideas that were never fully fleshed out. The two main reasons that I didn’t like this film was because It was just so confusing and some of the characters in this movie were poorly written.

Like I said, the first and main reason that this film didn’t resonate with me is because it was just so confusing. I don’t think that I have ever been more confused after a movie. I had to watch several video essays to piece together what I had just watched. Normally this is fine in an arthouse film or a film that invites you back for a rewatch to reveal the things you missed, but with Mulholland Drive I found myself disinterested and disconnected. Parts of the film felt like they didn’t even belong in the same movie, and other parts felt so dull that they had no reason to exist in the first place. 

The second reason I didn’t appreciate this film was the character development. Now this is a difficult one to grasp because part of the reason that this movie is so beloved is its character depth, but I felt as though the film spiraled in such a way that rooting for anyone in the film was difficult. This created a viewing experience where I was dissatisfied and felt like I had wasted time, especially considering the high praise that this had gotten throughout the years.

In conclusion, Mulholland Drive was an experience I may have to revisit. Its acclaim was hard to understand for me considering its convoluted nature and its hard to watch characters. I rate Mulholland Drive a C.