I am afraid I can't really agree with this analysis at all. I can understand how a trailer misleads people and how that may have lead to some of the baffled responses to the film, but I think it's more important to just talk about what the film actually is. And then to right the praise of the film off as "critics are bored and just like it because it's different" seems to be a pretty backwards way to look at film criticism.

The biggest complain you have all seems to revolve around the plot and the pacing of the plot. I'll admit that it took me two viewings, but it was immediately clear how the plot worked as soon as I could put names to faces. A second viewing is required in this area, and maybe that's unfair to people, but it's true. But once you get past the plot (which ABSOLUTELY makes complete sense and isn't nearly as confusing as it appears) you get such a rich, intricate story that's actually going on on the screen.

The key to understanding the plot is understanding that Doc gets involved with three storylines. There is the Shasta Fey/Mickey Wolfman thread, the Coy/Hope thread, and the Bigfoot thread. I think people are under the assumption that all of these completely come together and relate somehow when really the only connecting thread is the thread of the Golden Fang. Not every piece of what happens in one scene has to do with the other (in some cases they do but not all), and if viewed with that in mind, and also knowing who each person is they're referring to in conversation, makes the film extremely easy to follow

For me it's a story about this great loss. Doc is existing at the end of an era. His hippie days are numbered. The Manson murders are in the air, Nixon and Watergate are going to rock the country soon, the era of free love seems like it's fading. Where you saw conversations that didn't push the plot ahead fast enough, I saw conversations that actually clued you into what the film was dealing with.

The introductory scene with Michael K Williams not only gets Doc to the sex shop, but also introduces the idea of