MAGAZINE DREAMS -- Pain and Pity

Review by Adam Donato

Magazine Dreams was acquired by Searchlight Pictures and was supposed to release at the end of 2023. Due to several unfortunate factors, mainly the assault allegations against star Jonathan Majors, the film was delayed and dropped by the studio. The film is now finally going to be seeing a wide release in 2025. This week, the Majors controversy reared its ugly head again quotes from Majors admitting to the assault allegations. It’s difficult to separate the art from the artist when the entire selling point of the film is the performance of Majors. If one is turned off by anything involving Majors, then that is totally understandable. Many filmmakers and artists worked hard on this film so the film does deserve to be judged by the contents within and not by external factors. 

Elijah Bynum is the writer and director of Magazine Dreams. This is his sophomore feature following Hot Summer Nights. Magazine Dreams is a character study about a bodybuilder that has high aspirations, but struggles with his mental health. The film heavily deals with themes about male loneliness as our protagonist is not excelling in his life as he thinks he should be. It’s very reminiscent of the Joker film as our protagonist is constantly being beat down by the society around him and turns to drastic measures to claim what he believes is his. The tone is very dark as the audience will be left feeling an utter sense of pity. It’s a familiar story, but told through the lens of a bodybuilder, which is an interesting sport to learn about here.

It’s ironic that this film was produced before the allegations against Majors came out because this performance feels like a response to this. Almost as if it's propaganda trying to rehabilitate Majors’s image as he is just a supremely driven individual who occasionally flies off the handle despite trying his absolute best to keep a lid on it. Majors is really good in the film. It’s very difficult to watch him try to remind himself constantly about how to properly operate, but inevitably lets his anger get the best of him. He has several freak out scenes that are just heartbreaking. The bodybuilding competition meltdown is a more obvious one, but the most impressive scene is when he confronts his former attacker in a diner. When he’s at his lowest is when he really shows his true colors and you really get to see his toxic outlook on himself and the world around him. Without spoiling anything, the film ends in a very ambiguous way as we are left to imagine how a person like this can continue on the path they’re on. Majors isn't doing anything crazy out of his comfort zone as this role feels like a more grounded version of the character he was playing in Creed III. Nonetheless, he still deserves credit as he carries out this movie on his “small” deltoids.

Magazine Dreams is sure to fly under the radar, which is unfortunate because a lot of artists came together to make a good movie. The timing is inconvenient, but if one can separate life from art, then there’s a lot of value to be found here. It’s tragic to watch this pathetic character fall farther down the hole he continues to dig for himself. While staying proactive is key, it’s important to maintain positive relationships and be kind to ourselves. Check out Magazine Dreams in theaters this week.

Magazine Dreams will be in theaters on March 21.

Rating: 4/5