“Long story short -”
“I think we’re past that point.”

Sigh Again with the exploiting of my slick thriller weakness!!!!

Noticing that this one was directed by Paul McGuigan, who directed Wicker Park – which I loved, but still need a number more viewings to get my head entirely around – I knew I might need patience to get through it. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, it lost me well within the first 10 minutes. The movie is quality, for sure, and like Inside Man it has an impressive cast. But its seeming sheer perfection is almost ultimately boring; the convoluted plot doesn’t help, even for a viewer who’s prepared for a last minute, revelatory, “OH so THAT’s what it meant!” à la Wicker Park; and ultimately the whole thing long outstays its welcome.

I don’t give half stars, so I feel the need to say, this is a high 3, but a 3 nonetheless. I love Josh Hartnett in anything, and I think I’ve expressed my feelings for him elsewhere (not sure if it’s in the archives, but it would appear under a search for Michael Penn, Raphael, Johnny Depp or Joseph Gordon Levitt :-p), and Lucy Liu is disarmingly cute too (love her wardrobe here). The photography is at times insanely meticulous, direction smooth, premise pure Hitchcock and the dialogue … oh yes, it’s time for a quotes summary to pad out the review ….

“You’re in my pocket. Which means if you don’t do what I tell you, you go from my pocket to my fridge.”

“He’s called The Rabbi.”
“Why?”
“He’s a Rabbi.”

“Someone’s trying to kill you.”
“Who?”
“Me.”

“I was just thinking if you were still alive when I come home from work tonight, I don’t know, maybe, I don’t know, we could go to dinner or something? Okay bye!”

“I’m gonna answer what any man with two penises would say when his tailor asked if he dressed to the right or to the left.”
“Which is???”
“Yes.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 13th, 2006 at 1:30 am in 3 hearts, Movie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.