The opening scenes were a little ridiculous. I liked Benicio del Toro a lot in it.

I have not seen Hamnet, yet

Not everyone’s cup of tea, because it seamlessly weaves pathos with humour and that requires more from the viewer than most films.

but assumed that my companion was enjoying it. He wasn’t. It was 2 hours and 41 minutes of our lives we’ll never get back.

I couldn't disagree more. In my opinion One Battle After Another blew away Hamnet. I mean they are radically different genres so they are a bit difficult to compare head-to-head. I thought Hamnet was so-so with some good performances by Buckley and Mescal. But it did not resonate with me nearly as much One Battle did. I actually found the final scene of Hamnet kind of hokey.

One Battle had a brilliant ensemble cast with stellar performances across the board (Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Teyana Taylor, Chase Infiniti, Regina King, etc.). It was a definite breakthrough performance for Chase Infiniti. Even the smaller, minor rolls included some fantastic performances. Paul Thomas Anderson did an outstanding job as the director. The cinematography and screenplay were equally as extraordinary. It touched upon some timely themes as well.

Everybody's going to have a different opinion, but I've got to defend what I felt was, hands down, the best movie of the year.

I like plot too, but didn't care for "One Battle After Another"