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Posted by Mike Schindler (Member # 1309) on 09-27-2002, 09:59 PM:
I didn't like this movie. I had very high hopes for it. It looked pretty funny. At the very least, I thought it would be fun to watch for... other reasons. But no. It wasn't that funny at all. It wasn't that serious, either. It's one of those movies which sort of tries to be both and ends up being neither. The script also really falls apart in the second half of the picture. Things happen which don't make any sense, and the ending is spelled out a little too clearly two or three times.Maggie Gyllenhall was good, though. It was such a strange role, but she handled it really well. Most of the humor that does work comes from her performance. James Spader is not given much to do. His role is pretty small, and his character is very stupid. Also, you gotta wonder about Spader. He seems to like this kind of movie. Similar subject matter was dealt with in CRASH and, to a lesser extent, SEX, LIES, AND VIDEOTAPE, both of which are far better films.
Posted by James R. Hammonds, Jr (Member # 673) on 09-28-2002, 11:24 AM:
I saw an advance screening of this a couple weeks ago and thought the smae thing.
crap all around.
The ONLY thing worth watching in this movie is Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Shes cute, adorable, an ALMOST make a bad movie good.
She only got me halfway through this one.------------------
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Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 12-18-2002, 12:30 PM:
Call me crazy, but I enjoyed this one. I agree that the story is strange (it reminded me of a sort of odd twist on Piano Teacher, which I also liked), but it works very well with this cast. The audience I saw it with seemed to enjoy the humor as well. This is definitely not a film for everyone and I'm sure that my parents would hate it, but it's worth seeing for a great performance from Maggie G. (I'm not even going to try to spell her last name...she's the sister of Jake, better known for his performances in October Sky, Bubble Boy, and Good Girl).
Oh, and the presentation that I saw sucked. I missed this when we ran it (it lasted only about two weeks), so I had to see it at the local "discount house" (if you call $6 tickets a "discount"). Mono sound, opaque splicing tape (they were using platters), lack of non-sync music, and light scratches on the edge of the picture (which might not be the theatre's fault) did not make me happy.