I am getting to an age where I just don’t want to be bummed out anymore. Life bums me out enough. Spending more time getting bummed out is a young person’s game. They have plenty of time to recover. I, at 68, am on a much more limited timeframe and I need to monitor closely what goes into this often bummed out mind so I prefer to be entertained as opposed to bummed out. Which brings me the movie Blue Moon.

I can say it is a great movie with great acting. It is clear that people involved in the movie put a lot of effort into it and they certainly were successful in bringing the story of song writer Lorenz Hart to light. Honestly the only thing I have against the movie is that it is a better play than movie as it all takes place at the Sardi’s bar in New York. There is nothing really cinematic about it.

Despite its many fine qualities, I am unable to recommend it because it bummed me out and, furthermore, I can’t see why I should spend my time being bummed out by it. There is no deeper message other than Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke) was depressed and desperate. He saw his successful partnership with Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott) coming to an end and there was nothing he could do to stop it. What am I to make of Hart’s sad spiral into the gutter? He seemed like a charming but difficult man who was unwilling (or unable) to save himself.

The bartender and the piano player at Sardi’s are trapped by their paycheck to listen to Hart’s tales about his romance with a much younger woman. They listen but more out of boredom than genuine concern. They have to be there so let the tired drunk writer talk until I have something better to do. When his friends do arrive after the play, they acknowledge his past genius at the same time as they are distancing themselves from the non-stop bull shit that comes out of Hart’s mouth. Particularly cruel is his former writing partner Rodgers. He seems intent on both irritating Hart with his own present success without Hart and wanting to work with him again if Hart would only buckle down to their partnership. It is unpleasant to listen to Rodgers complaints about Hart — it is like listening to someone else’s bad job review. All right already, just fire him and put him (and us) out of our misery.

Then there is the younger woman, Elizabeth Weiland (Margaret Qualley). Hart, in yet another perverse display of masochism, sits inthralled by her stories of being seduced by her lover. This is the woman he is supposed to love and he joyfully hangs on her every word about a her man who treats her badly but who she would gladly drive hundreds of miles to be with again if he only he would ask. asked. Something, she also admits, she would never do for Hart. It is one awkward painful moment after the next. Why? Great acting. I guess. Whatever that is worth.

Watching a sad man’s self-destruction is really not worth my time. It is just sad. I can get more than my share watching the news.