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Device or Gimmick?
by EricD (movies profile)
Aug 22, 2005
2
of
2 people found this review helpful
I have a soft spot for Gwyneth Paltrow. For one, she's real easy on the eyes, and I also appreciate her depth and charisma as an actress. That's mainly what interested me in seeing this film, and judging from the way the movie was marketed, everything in it revolves around her. And certainly the movie is competent, with good performances by the supporting cast and a handful of amusing moments. So why did I feel somewhat empty when this movie ended?
The idea behind the movie is interesting, and there is skill in the manner of storytelling. But in spite of the parallel storylines which should provide more insight into the character, I was left still wondering what was really making this woman tick. It wasn't so much that Paltrow's performance was flat, but rather that her motivations (not the obvious ones, but the underlying ones) remained nebulous from start to finish. Yes, some context was given for her life and associations in the first 20 minutes or so, but the movie seemed more interested in merely showing the alternate realities of her life and the consequences of her choices, rather than helping us actually understand her choices or feel a deeper connection to her. It was almost as if she were there only as a demo version of ourselves, a placeholder for our personae, with the filmmakers hoping that we the audience fill in the remaining gaps with our own experiences and projections. To me this is doing too much to satisfy the hook of the story, converting it from being a device for understanding into just a gimmick.
That said, there's nothing unpleasant about the film (although the ending is a bit saccharine for my tastes). And credit should be given for keeping most of the characters 3-dimensional, at least most of the time. And perhaps it's true that any more depth to the story would have required a running time too long for what is at its core a pretty simple romantic drama. But as I'm sure some other critic has commented, those sliding doors have already shut and closed off whatever possibility there may have been to make this a more memorable film.... |
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