Rarely have I seen a movie so consistently inept. How do you even take Sean Penn, France McDormand, a David Byrne soundtrack, Robert Smith styling, and make it all suck? I love all of the above and detested the movie enough to wonder how anybody signed on for it.Disclosure here that I have no familiarity with the director and have not seen his previous works. So that I do not comprehend what he was trying to accomplish with this stilting disjointed film. But even the premise of the film is of negligible interest to me. This was simply on TV, and so I watched it, thinking how bad could a movie with Sean Penn and Frances McDormand get? Although with the plot synopsis I had forewarning it wasn't my type of film.This would appear to be the type of weird work that foreshadows that even the most accomplished actors make mistakes, get involved in films they probably shouldn't, and get swayed by something in order to be part of the project.I'm trying to fathom any portion of this film that is redeeming or that makes it worth watching. Very rarely would I state this, I want my 2hrs back.

This is one of those movies that totally flat-lined for me. I watched it only because a friend liked and recommended it. However, I had serious doubts about it, after having read the synopsis and seen a photo of Sean Penn in drags. I am not a Penn fan, although I would not rule out a movie just because he is in it.In this particular movie, I really disliked him for lots of reasons: the exasperating monotone of his speech; the phoniness of all his "conversations"; the weird and yet dull interaction with the many bizarre characters populating the movie, etc…The word "boring" is used quite often when we explain why we did not like a movie. Basically, we did not feel emotionally or intellectually engaged by the story unfolding on screen. Nothing works against this type of disengagement. No rational explanation will convince you about the deep, inner meaning the director, scriptwriter, actors and other reviewers saw or tried to instill into the story.Therefore, for me this is the ultimate boring movie. A plot so thin I lost track of it after 10 minutes; totally disengaging and disengaged characters; far too much artsy Penn. I gave up, 1 hour and 6 minutes into it and I am not even sure why I lasted that long. By then, I still had no clue about what was going on and I definitely stopped caring even earlier …..

Greetings from Lituania."This Must Be the Place" (2011) is the kind of movie where you simply watch without following or taking the plot very seriously, although it touches some very serious themes like holocaust. Sean Penn gives a superb and unusual performance. This man could act anything, seriously, he's is brilliant. Other performances are OK, but basically we don't see them much as this is Sean Penn tour de force in this road movie while trying to bond with himself.This picture features superb song and full performance by Talking Heads and their song "This must be the place", which is superbly performed at the end by singer Gloria - great song, great voice - sounds very positive and created this special mood at the end of the movie.Overall, "This must be the place" has some pacing issued in the middle section, movie is a bit long, at 2 hours it drags a bit, and that just because it's plot isn't really focused. The main character visits many places and find many people, which distracts from main plot. But "This must be the place" has very good things, that finally makes this a good movie, definitely worth seeing.

Set in both Ireland and the continental United States, This Must Be the Place is a sweetly weird meditation on love and death. The protagonist, Cheyenne (in a standout performance by Sean Penn), is equal parts glam-and-gloom rocker and modern-day mystic, offering, through dialogue, insights into the human condition without overstepping into the territory of pretension. Sorrentino's direction is exquisite here, as is his timing. The humor balances out the despair at just the right moments; the pacing of the film feels balanced, as well. In addition, Byrne's score is both eerie and warming (and adding Will Oldham always brings positive results).This is a film that poses the question, "How do we make right the wrongs from the past?" and genuinely attempts to answer it with a unique perspective that doesn't rely on conventions or expectations. It's one of those cases where the correct mixture of people got together and made a memorable piece of art that reminds us how to feel.