Variety

It’s a movie that shows us the dark side of literally getting high. That’s engrossing, to a point, but it’s not exhilarating.

It’s a flat-footed dud, at once overwrought and underplotted, and barely propped up by A-list stars who look either embarrassed, confused or indifferent to be there.

The film, about two 20-year-olds carrying on their early courtship across the mortal divide, is earnest and a little clunky as it takes a simplistic inspirational approach to complex metaphysical questions. But it is accessible and attractive, shot in glistening monochrome, and could well be a youth-skewing hit for the filmmaker.

Robinson and Jones are a likable enough pairing to make Charlie Harper affecting here and there; making it interesting is a taller order.

Here’s the real problem: “Digger” isn’t funny. It’s nervy, in your face, adventurous, and bizarro in a free-swinging, out-of-the-box way. And it feels like a comedy, since it’s fueled by the relentless overacting of a bad Coen brothers movie. But “Dr. Strangelove,” built around the genius of Peter Sellers, was brilliantly funny. “Digger” borrows the doomsday architecture of “Strangelove” but leaves out the slyness, replacing it with a lavishly overscaled spectacle of browbeating.

The movie proves that when you do it right, what seemed old can become timeless.

Three gusty hours of lots to look at and nothing to see.

Deeply felt and fully satisfying, Crawford and Mercado’s odyssey is a wonderful cinematic experience — but for best results, watch it with a friend.

It’s a welcome reminder of what Watts, who’s been either ill-used or unchallenged in too many of her recent film vehicles, can do with a role that steps up to her adaptable, slightly unknowable screen presence.

It all flows, because Niki Byrne unfurls this story with such panache and precision yet such effortless conviction. It’s clear that Byrne, along with Chase Infiniti, is going to be a major player. Just watch the movie and do the math.