CHRISTIAN TOTO ON FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA’S MEGALOPOLIS: Auteur’s Messy Prayer for Brighter Tomorrow.

Francis Ford Coppola has spent decades thinking about a movie project now known as “Megalopolis.”

And it shows.

The sprawling drama packs so many consequential themes into its two-plus hours it could have yielded a half-dozen films. Maybe more.

As is, “Megalopolis” is a glorious mess, a clash of tonal styles and belief systems that delivers until it leaves us confused, if not frustrated by its reach.

Star Adam Driver deserves an honorary Oscar for holding all the fascinating pieces together.

As John Nolte writes, Coppola deserves major credit for casting previously cancelled actors: Coppola told Rolling Stone, “What I didn’t want to happen is that we’re deemed some woke Hollywood production that’s simply lecturing viewers. The cast features people who were canceled at one point or another. There were people who are archconservatives and others who are extremely politically progressive. But we were all working on one film together. That was interesting, I thought.”

Unfortunately, Coppola’s risk taking isn’t translating into ticket sales: Box Office: ‘Megalopolis’ Bombs With D+ CinemaScore, ‘Wild Robot’ Soaring to No. 1.