The carnie world is the original alternative community. The terms freak and geek came from the carnival circuit. Now we have more politically correct names like LGBT+ and Nomad. But make no mistake from whence alternative lifestyles came…

Stanton Carlisle is a young man looking for his place in the world. In his travels, he makes his way into a carnival troupe and sees his future.

Nightmare Alley is a film about Stan’s introduction into the carnival world and where it leads. The good, the bad and the ugly…

Story: Based on the 1946 novel by William Lindsey Gresham, Guillermo del Toro and Kim Morgan created a screenplay that got nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture. I cannot say I found the telling of this story Academy Award worthy…

The story is somewhat annoying and more than one scene drags on. In light of the strength of the story, there is still the hope that individual performances will pull the film through. Alas, the performances don’t create any attention grabbing moments either.

Having not read the book, it’s hard to tell if the dud is the book or the screenplay. But, I’m not sure it’s worth reading the book to find out…

Performances: Bradley Cooper plays Stanton Carlisle with Rooney Mara as his wife and partner in crime. Toni Colette as Zeena Krumbein and David Strathairn as Peter Krumbein also play central characters with Cate Blanchett as Lilith Ritter, a psychologist and subsequent conspirator. Willem Defoe plays Clem, the circus owner. A star studded cast…

But none of these performances create a feeling of exception. This seems to be a pattern these days where Oscar-nominated and Oscar-winning actors are taking on roles that produce nothing of note. P. S. This is my second bomb for Cate Blanchett for 2021…

It is difficult to connect to any character in this film…

Visual: Believe it or not, the way this film looks is it’s shining star. The sets are fantastic. The costumes are fantastic. The look and feel of 1946 absolutely comes through.

If this film deserves an academy award nomination, it should have been for cinematography. High accolades for the way this film looks.

Rating: C+. The plus is because the sets are so tailored and buttoned-up. It feels like every character gets introduced, but never get developed. There is a point to the ending, but, everything in between starts then falls off the edge. We’re presented with a new character, get a glean into their purpose and then off to the next scene or character.

The shortcomings in the story and performances just make it middle-of-the-road indifferent as an effort.

Some Saturday when you’re in bed all day searching through your streaming channels and this film pops up, consider it. Otherwise…