The challenge in the movie (as is the case in most of his creations) is to keep track of the main theme while the viewer is constantly bombarded by sideshow items. They do make a kind of caustic sense at the end but the average viewer would be wondering whether this was just another tale of sound and fury.
Also the length of the movie was quite challenging and hence for the average moviegoer, patience would have to be a virtue that he/she would have to possess before sitting down and kicking it off.
All said and done overall the film does manage to have moments where perplexity may give rise to some gray matter getting exercised. Laura Dern does give a very creditable performance and her dual opposite roles will definitely surprise the viewer if not by sheer language delivery but by body posture and mannerisms. Jeremy Irons is underutilized and could have been given a deeper role.
Finally we have to remember that David Lynch is not particularly in the habit of creating mainstream cinema and hence if you are the one who is not into obscure surrealism then this definitely would disappoint.
