Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Complexity
- Simple
- Violence
- Mild
- irreverent
- witty
- breezy
- late night
- beach vacation
What critics said
Critics broadly found the film distinctive and entertaining through Matthew McConaughey's performance and Harmony Korine's style, but too unfocused and thinly plotted to fully cohere.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Moondog moves through Florida's parties, relationships, and setbacks while maintaining an unwavering commitment to drinking, drugs, poetry, and pleasure.
The story accumulates moments involving Moondog's friends, lovers, artistic pursuits, and escapades with little conventional conflict.
Harmony Korine presents beach culture, nightlife, eccentric costumes, and intoxicated revelry through an exaggerated, colorful collage aesthetic.
Moondog lives by his own rules and resists expectations surrounding work, sobriety, respectability, and conventional adulthood.
Films like The Beach Bum, and why
The Big Lebowski
shared stoner comedy, eccentric protagonist, and loose episodic structure
Spring Breakers
shared irreverent beachside excess, drug-fueled escapism, and vivid countercultural style
The Rum Diary
shared free-spirited antihero, alcohol-soaked adventures, and shaggy comic tone
Inherent Vice
shared offbeat ensemble comedy, outsider characters, and improvisational absurdity
Movie Details
- Director
- Harmony Korine
- Release Date
- 2019-03-21
- Runtime
- 95 min
- Rating
- 5.7 / 10 (585)
Cast
- Matthew McConaughey
- Snoop Dogg
- Isla Fisher
- Jimmy Buffett
- Zac Efron
- Martin Lawrence
- Stefania LaVie Owen
- Jonah Hill
- Donovan St V. Williams
- David Bennett
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Beach Bum about?
- A wildly free-spirited Florida poet drifts through booze, drugs, sex, and friendship while refusing to let convention interrupt his pursuit of pleasure.
- What is The Beach Bum like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Beach Bum as brisk, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as simple.
- Is The Beach Bum violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in The Beach Bum as mild.
- What did critics think of The Beach Bum?
- Critics broadly found the film distinctive and entertaining through Matthew McConaughey's performance and Harmony Korine's style, but too unfocused and thinly plotted to fully cohere.
- Which films are like The Beach Bum?
- Films with a similar feel include The Big Lebowski, Spring Breakers, The Rum Diary, and Inherent Vice.
- How long is The Beach Bum?
- The Beach Bum runs 95 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Beach Bum?
- In United States, The Beach Bum streams on Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads.
