Despite the controversy, quite dull and pointless.

A movie that relies largely on the shock value of its subject matter and of some of its scenes. Take these away and it is largely empty.

There are some interesting themes that appear - fidelity (and infidelity),addiction, control - but these are just touched upon. In the end it is the usual Lars von Trier exercise in pretentious navel-gazing. Even the erotic scenes are hardly erotic, seeming just ho-hum and a chore.

Performances are like the characters: dull. Charlotte Gainsburg only does pretentious roles (which explains why she tends to appear in von Trier movies) and this is no exception. Stellan Sarsgaard is particularly boring. Shia Lebeouf seems out of his depth in a serious movie. His accent is particularly appalling and laughable, ending up somewhere between English, South African and Australian.

About the only performance that I found riveting was that of Uma Thurman, but unfortunately her screen time is very limited.

Overall, I thought the first one was okay. Even though a majority of the time I was bored with the story, I did think it was somewhat interesting and I felt the acting was very good in it. I also felt the real sex element of the film was nothing more than a gimmick to create buzz but it wasn't so bad that it tossed me out of the film. However, I didn't really feel the same in the second installment.

While the acting is still good in this film (seriously, Charlotte Gainsbourg is very good in the movie) and the film actually starts to build quite well from where the first one left off, the story hits its Third Act on such a silly note that I couldn't take the movie seriously and it felt like it validated my thoughts that the real sex part was just a gimmick. While the movie doesn't go overboard to the point of something like Joe uses her nymphomania to win the presidency, the development of her career becoming a debt collector and using her knowledge of sex in this career path was just too out-there for me when compared to the beginning of the two volumes. It didn't help either that Joe decides to take on an apprentice who decides to go all Darth Vader on her Emperor Palpatine. Till this point, the film was progressing and developing nicely but this evolution was something that I just couldn't get into—which is a big problem because, despite how good the acting was, the characters were just people I couldn't fully invest in.

With this element of the story rubbing me the wrong way and immediately taking out even the smallest amount of investment I made into Joe's story, it ended up making me feel like I was right that the real sex part was just a gimmick to get talk about the film going because it feels like that was the priority and the drama and story were the afterthought. Yes, all films have their own particular gimmick they are sold on but sometimes those gimmicks made the film feel lazy because that was where all the attention went. Granted, "Nymphomaniac Vol. II" isn't as bad as a "found footage" gimmick but it did make me feel like Lars von Trier was more worried about getting people excited about a movie that contains real sex than he was about telling a naturally developing story.

Still, through it all, the acting is still really good. I just didn't really care for this one because, along with the problems I had in the story, I just couldn't invest myself fully into the characters. In the end, the film is just not my cup of tea…and, honestly, tea isn't really my cup of tea.

Howdy! My name is Rev. Ron and if you feel like reading more of my rants, ramblings, bad jokes, geek references, and other movie reviews (like a more in-depth look at "Nymphomaniac Vol. II" and other films that were clearly just faking it the entire time in order to boost your ego) you can visit my blog at revronmovies.blogspot.com. If you don't want to do that because you assume that my dislike of the film has little to do with the story and characters and more to do with the idea that I "didn't get it," you don't need to visit my blog.

Lars von Trier's second film about the life story of a female nymphomaniac goes down increasingly dark alleyways compared to VOL. I, but at the same time I found it the lesser movie. This film just doesn't have the drive or vitality that made the first film so interesting, and there are some odd plot decisions - especially towards the climax - that don't ring true.

There are still some oddly gripping moments here, but they're more disturbing than ever. Jamie Bell is a real surprise, playing a completely different character to that than you'd expect and doing very well with it too. I'm surprised that I found Charlotte Gainsbourg less sympathetic than the actress playing the younger version of her character. By the time Willem Dafoe enters the frame, the movie seems to have lost its way and become a bizarre, slow-paced thriller instead. And don't get me started on the Mia Goth stuff.

As before, this is a beautifully shot movie with a lot of fragility and artiness contained within its shots. But Lars von Trier can only keep the audience's interest for so long, and by now his tale is beginning to drag, leaving a film that is only so-so rather than profound. And that 'twist' ending is ludicrous more than anything else.