*May contains spoilers to a subpar movie
Bliss starring Owen Wilson and Salma Hayek is a convoluted sci-fi drama that at first seems like a watered-down version of Tron. All it is not what it seems like the movie continues. Greg is a bored generic executive at an IT firm. Greg (Owen Wilson) as it would appear is mentally unraveling and after terribly killing his boss, he meets Isabel (Salma Hayek). Isabel tells Greg that this world is not real and they are really just in a simulation. Isabel proceeds to give Greg blue crystals so that they can see the real world.
The term sci-fi is being used very loosely in context to this film. It is essentially like calling Euphoria a fantasy. The entire scene that would qualify as sci-fi in any way is about fifteen minutes, maybe. The movie couldn’t decide if it wanted to be a trippy sci-fi or a gritty tale about life. The computer simulation concept wasn’t fully realised, confusing the viewer most of the time.
If you take away the gimmick of the sci-fi world the movie is actually pretty sad. It shows Owen Wilson getting fired and falling in a hole. What is the most problematic is that the unraveling only takes about five minutes? The more realised concept is that Isabel is just a homeless woman giving him drugs. Greg is just a regular guy but with Isabel he has powers. Although as a sci-fi it is terribly done but as a commentary on drug addiction director Mike Cahill knocks it out of the park. Isabel provides excuses to her life and Greg’s life by convincing him he is in a simulation. In that simulation Greg has a daughter but she isn’t real. The daughter’s role isn’t fully constructed but it does help with the narrative. She spends her time trying to track down Greg while he runs around the city causing problems with Isabel. Greg’s sense of reality is warped, he misses his daughter’s graduation even though he thought he had only been with Isabel for two days. Isabel makes things magical; she warps reality to make the harsh aspects of their life not real. The whole movie can be wrapped into disassociating from your life.
At the beginning of the movie, we see Greg trying to refill medication over the phone. His daughter Emily later on has a conversation with her brother about their father’s drug addiction. It is revealed that his addiction stems from an injury where he was prescribed pain medication.
I love Owen Wilson and Salma Hayek but this movie was rough. It had a lot of potential but the trailer showed a completely different movie. I went into it with a lot of expectations and was sadly disappointed.