Delayed Reaction: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf

The Pitch: The one time that Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton working together really worked.

An older couple invites a younger couple over to their house after a party and drunkenly feud for the rest of the night.

I like the idea of this movie a lot more than I liked the movie. This is adapted from a play and you can feel that. Limited cast. Few sets. Long scenes, full of monologuing. I can like all that a lot. I've mentioned before my love of movies that are essentially "put a bunch of people in a room and see how they bounce off each other". I also do like Taylor and Burton as the bickering couple. There's history to both the characters and the actors that you can see on the screen. I preferred Burton's quiet disdain over Taylor's big theatricality, but both were great. The whole quartet were all deserving of their Oscar nominations.

I think I just have trouble with the conceit. I didn't care much for The Overnight from a couple years ago, despite loving that cast. The infamous dinner party episode of The Office is one that I actively avoid. I think it has to do with the discomfort comedy. I'm not a fan of it. My tolerance certainly can't withstand a 2 hour movie of it. I appreciate the craft and performances of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. It just isn't a structure that I enjoy watching. It's like if I watch a great Football game. I can recognize that it's an exciting game, but I don't care about football or like watching it. For what it is though, the movie is pretty great.

Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend