Maybe the answer to “Why did Warner Brothers barely release Clint Eastwood’s ‘final film?” was that it’s just not very good.

“Juror # 2” is competently cast, acted, shot and put together. But the script is melodramatic to the point of “hackneyed,” with a couple of unintentional laughs thrown in for good measure. I caught at least one continuity error, and that is about the only thing that really held my attention the rest of the way through this eye-roller of a Clint curtain call.

Others can grade great grandpa on the curve, but about the best you can say about this “Matlock” melodrama is that it’s not “Cry Macho,” even if it’s not any better than that the worst of the “final films” that preceded it.

Nicholas Hoult stars as a recovering alcoholic and expectant father who finds himself on a Savannah murder trial jury in which he has a very important important piece of evidence about the crime which the accused is seemingly certain to have commited.

Juror number two is pretty sure he himself did it.

Seeing as how another juror turns out to be a retired cop, you have to wonder if the “real” killer will get away with it. And you ponder the competence of the prosecuting attorney, running for DA (Toni Collette) and the public defender (Chris Messina) during voir dire (jury questioning and selection).

But that’s kind of the point. Eastwood’s conjured-up a condemnation of America’s justice system, and in his most Clint touch of all, leaves the rush-to-judgement “their only suspect” cops out of the equation altogether. Yeah Clint, prosecutorial misconduct along the Georgia coast always has a local policing element. Or didn’t you hear?

Jurors bicker over a verdict with the two Black jurors (Cedric Yarbrough and Adienne C. Moore) the quickest to vote “guilty” to get out of there and go home. The others, urged on by Justin (Hoult), start teasing-out other possible solutions to the mystery, and break the judge’s strict orders to not attempt their “own investigation.”

The most tained juror of all consults his AA sponsor (Kiefer Sutherland) who conveniently turns out to be another attorney. And the advice that counselor counsels is jaw-dropping, more dramatically convenient than real world ethical.

Coincidences like that abound as our guilty juror flashes back to that fateful night and tries to head off A) sending an innocent man to prison and B) to void letting suspicion fall on him as he attempts that.

Eastwood serves up a politically correct jury — white, Black, Asian, young, old, etc. — passing judgment on a case so convoluted and a screenplay so contorted that even the aspiring DA starts doing her own investigating. Because again, the COPS are left out of this altogether.

The strangers in the jury room leap into instant “old man” and “stoner” insults, this coming after the second or third reference to “this flawed process” and “imperfect it may be” in court. The worst thing anyone calls the DA is “a politician.” That’s the depth of the messaging here.

Further complicating our suspect juror’s attack of conscience and rationalizations about the other suspect being “a bad dude” is his “problem pregnancy” wife (Zoey Deutch) who needs him by her side once he’s saved the innocent man and covered his own tracks from within the jury room.

I was willing to go along with some of this as Eastwood goes through the motions of presenting the jury selection and the trial. He can’t reinvent the genre, so he doesn’t try.

But the picture isn’t playing and there’s little suspense and even less logic you start taking note of the abrupt shifts in the not-quite-caricatured characters and the plot. You hear a juror accuse another of changing his or her tune from what he said “just the other day” on the FIRST day of deliberations.

And you take comfort in Collette, Yarbrough, Simmons, Deutch and Sutherland, the stand-outs from the cast, as you pity those who aren’t as compelling as they might have been were they working for anybody other than “One Take Clint.”

Rating: PG-13, violent images, profanity

Cast: Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, Chris Messina,
Cedric Yarbrough, J.K. Simmons, Leslie Bibb, Adrienne C. Moore, Kiefer Sutherland and Zoey Deutch.

Credits: Directed by Clint Eastwood, scripted by Jonathan A. Abrams. A Warner Bros. release.

Running time: 1:54

Three major problems hamper Make a Girl as a film. The first is its very premise. Akira offhandedly makes Zero, a literal living, breathing girl, from nothing. Born a teenager, his lab-grown girl already knows at birth all the information needed to live in human society (like language skills and critical thinking)—even if she lacks the experience to use that data correctly. And to be clear, this isn’t an everyday occurrence in the world of this film—other people aren’t just going around making teenagers on a whim.

Despite this, no one bats an eye at the fact that Akira created life. His friends give little more than an exasperated sigh, and his scientist peers find her interesting but not much more. What he has done logically has world-shaking implications, but there’s no government interference or societal outcry. People just don’t seem to think it’s much of a big deal.

Stemming from the problems with the premise, we have the next major issue: the tone. Much of the film is silly and lighthearted, focusing on Zero adjusting to living in human society and trying to figure out her role as Akira’s girlfriend. It’s so lighthearted that, given the should-be-serious subject material, it rings false. It almost feels like there is some major twist in the works—like the whole world is fabricated or a dream or something similar. It’s incredibly challenging to suspend disbelief. Then comes the final climax, which is so intense and graphically violent that it feels like part of a different (and much more interesting) film.

And here we reach the final issue plaguing the film: its theme. When it comes down to it, Make a Girl is focused on the question of free will. Does Zero love Akira because she was designed that way, or are her emotions all her own? But more than that, how can she prove it one way or the other? That is the personal dilemma at the core of the film. The problem is that rather than truly develop and explore this conundrum, the film jumps directly to the most extreme way of testing it. And while it makes for an exciting, visceral climax, the movie does little thematically to lay the groundwork for such an overreaction.

Of course, the film isn’t all bad—even within the problems stated above are more than a few interesting elements. One interesting aspect of the film is that its hero and villain face the same struggles. Both are bashing their heads against a wall in an attempt to even start to understand the greatest scientific mind of the previous generation: Akira’s mother. Both are going to evermore extreme lengths to try and progress—to step out from the shadow of such a great woman. But the pressure is soul-crushing and leads both to do things they come to regret. When it comes down to it, their core problem is the same: neither can understand Akira’s mother’s thought process and thus can’t continue her work or even build upon it.

Another interesting development is its investigation of love. While romantic love is the catalyst, the film focuses on familial love as well. It also does some fun playing around with the idea of love triangles, childhood best friends, and the ways people use their roles in other people’s lives to fill the voids in their own. Basically, it explores how love can let you see the world in a new way—and can change your life to make you a more balanced and productive person in the process.

On the visual side, Make a Girl is a mixed bag. There are times when the 3D animated film truly does look like a traditionally animated film—however, the majority of the time, it does not. That doesn’t mean it looks bad, however. The more action-packed the scene, the more stunning the film becomes. On the other hand, some noticeable wide shots that are a bit odd. Despite the 3D models used in the film, the characters seem under-detailed. There are also some strange frame-rate drops in the animation.

The music is not bad, but it is definitely forgettable. I honestly can’t remember a single bar of it—or even a moment where the music stood out in the least—positively or negatively.

In the end, Make a Girl has an undercooked premise, inconsistent tone, and underexplored theme. The animation itself is likewise filled with ups and downs in the quality department. It is, simply put, a film with some interesting ideas but poor execution.

Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.

After a strange, dark turn last week, when Bill Burr hosted the post-presidential election episode of “Saturday Night Live,” the show bounced back by flexing its pop culture muscles.

By touching on politics only in the Trump meets Biden cold open and in a sketch about podcaster bros who get assigned Cabinet and ambassador positions by the president-elect, “SNL” instead went brat. The live pieces included snarky takes on the world of fashion, like the It Girl Thanksgiving special hosted by Marc Jacobs (Bowen Yang) and Julia Fox (Chloe Fineman); a “Wicked” audition reel that featured Charli doing very good Adele and Troye Sivan impressions; and an extended joke about people getting green paint on their bodies by making out with the lead actor from “Shrek the Musical.”

The show also returned with new versions of previous sketches, including a sequel to a bridesmaids song from the Ariana Grande episode, where the bride-to-be is now an expectant mom whose friends recount her babymoon trip. The other was another edition of a baking contest that featured a dirty turkey cake and one with a gaping orifice that spits stuffing. Marcello Hernández, who was in a lot of sketches this week, played an intense acting coach alongside star student Alyssa (Charli) in a class for commercial auditions.

Meanwhile, as musical guest, Charli performed “360,” introduced by the real Julia Fox, and “Sympathy Is a Knife,” introduced by Yang. A Please Don’t Destroy video promised in the opening credits was cut for time, but it was posted online and featured Charli with the Please Don’t Destroy guys in a “mean cute.”

Dana Carvey continues his “SNL” 50th season residency, returning again as President Biden after a detour last week when he played Elon Musk. Trump (James Austin Johnson) and Biden meet in the Oval Office, as they in real life did this week, and even Trump seems to be surprised by his own friendly behavior. “Get a load of me,” he says, “instead of being rude and crazy like usual, I’m doing quiet and serene. Which in many ways is a lot scarier.” Trump complains about how much he hates the White House (“So many of the carpets are stinky and sticky at the same time.”) and about Elon Musk before a visit from his attorney general nominee, Rep. Matt Gaetz (Sarah Sherman). “We’ve got Elon and Matt Gaetz,” Trump says, “That’s an alien versus predator.” Alec Baldwin also returned to the show to play Health and Human Services nominee and former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who said he would protect “a woman’s right to give her child polio.” Trump asked Biden what he’ll do next. “I’ll do what every worn-down old guy does,” he replied, “I’m going to fight Jake Paul.”

Charli’s monologue referenced how she got started playing raves when she was 15 by telling her parents she had swim practice, “at 2 a.m. … In a warehouse full of gays.” She joked about thanking someone who’s been there for her throughout her career: Auto-Tune. And she welcomed former “SNL” cast member Kyle Mooney, whose directorial debut movie “Y2K” is out next month, to demonstrate what is and what isn’t brat. It turns out that Mooney naming Claritin as his favorite drug is not brat. She concluded by saying, “I”m not used to being out this early on a Saturday night!”

Best sketch of the night: What if Bernie Sanders and Adele starred in ‘Wicked’?

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Audition reel sketches are really just an excuse to let the cast trot out their best celebrity impressions, particularly Chloe Fineman, who figures heavily into this one for the movie adaptation of “Wicked.” She plays JoJo Siwa, Sydney Sweeney, Martha Stewart and Leslie Mann. Devon Walker portrays NFL star Shannon Sharpe and Carvey returns to play Al Pacino. Hernández, as Bad Bunny, refuses to do an English version of his audition and Sherman does a surprisingly good Bernie Sanders, complaining that the munchkins are living paycheck to paycheck. But it’s Charli who surprises with a spot-on Adele and Troye Sivan, who’s standing next to the “SNL” version of Charli, played by Yang.

Also good: Calling the cops on white people, Girl Scouts and even small dogs

It’s only been a little over a month since we got a new Lonely Island “SNL Digital Short,” “Sushi Glory Hole,” but now the team has returned with another song (album coming soon?) about a man who takes pleasure in calling the police over minor infractions. The very catchy song features Andy Samberg busting people who put trash in his recycle bin or trespass into his yard. The twist is that he calls the police on white people like Colin Jost. His wife (Charli) is just as vigilant and by the end of the video, a small bulldog has been handcuffed and a Girl Scout has gone to jail. Maybe it’s not as shocking or goes as hard as the “Sushi” song, but it’s still expertly performed and shot. And it’s not an Allstate commercial.

‘Weekend Update’ winner: This squirrel widow is absolutely nuts

Yang looked like he had a ton of fun playing Joe Exotic from “Tiger King,” who is seeking a pardon and a Cabinet position from Trump. But it was Sherman who gave a twitchy, hilarious performance as the widow of late internet celebrity P’Nut the Squirrel. Hazel (Nut, get it?) is devastated after her husband was euthanized, but longs for the touch of “Weekend Update” co-host Jost. Hazel’s giant tail keeps harassing him and she clacks her teeth, shakes as if frozen in front of an oncoming car, and makes more “nuts” puns than you might expect. A very fun bit from a very funny performer.