| Overall Grade: |
C |
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| Story: |
C- |
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| Acting: |
B |
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| Direction: |
C |
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| Visuals: |
C |
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Less Is Still Less
by Don (movies profile)
Feb 10, 2008
6
of
8 people found this review helpful
I saw this film at the Toronto Festival recently. I had hopes for it during the reasonably entertaining first fifteen minutes which primarily take place in an almost vacant discount store where Morgan Freeman's character has gone to due research for an upcoming film role. Paz Vega plays a feisty cashier who has been having a tough time of late and wants to find a job as an office worker which she's as a step up from her repetitive chores at the store. Freeman and Vega have some good moments together and an undeniable charm. Unfortunately the narrative thread is too slight to sustain this charm and by the half way point I felt the film's ultimate length of a mere 82 minutes was too long. There are ideas that are repeated to the point of boredom such as the sing-song platitudes Freeman asks Vega to sing enroute to an interview whilst in a car with him. We never see the interview which would certainly have justified some of the time spent watching Vega physically and mentally preparing for it. If you liked "Lost in Translation" and you are curious to see what Mr. Freeman and Ms. Vega would be like instead of Bill Murray and Scarlet Johannsen and you don't mind the low budget trappings of this film, then you might enjoy 'Ten Items or Less' more than I did. I was not a huge 'Translation' fan and as much as I would have liked to have recommended this film, alas, I cannot. |
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