LOS ANGELES — What do you do with a movie that begins with an elephant losing control of its bowels, torrentially defecating right into the camera lens, and then heads straight to a party where we're immediately greeted with an extended shot of a woman urinating on a reveler?
And that's just the first five minutes of "Babylon," Damien Chazelle's unconvincing, unhinged three-hour-plus spectacle centered on Hollywood depravity and debauchery and, OK, sure, the transition from silent movies to sound. Think "Singin' in the Rain" but with piles of cocaine. "Make 'em Laugh"? Forget it. Chazelle wants to beat you into submission. And the more he ramps up the movie's energy, the more miserable you become watching it. Anarchic excess is just not this guy's strong suit.
All the indulgence and disappointment of "Babylon" raises the question: What the hell happened to movies this fall? When the weather turns brisk in L.A. (under 80 degrees) and the leaves change color (brown to a dustier shade of brown), we know it's the beginning of pumpkin spice latte season and Santa Ana winds blowing through the canyons and also ... the annual influx of movies for grown-ups.
