I heard that some people liked this film. I was
not one of them.
Kidman and Cruise play a rich married couple
tempted by seductive notions of infidelity. Kidman's
character is intoxicated (alcohol and later
marijuana) for the first 50% of her performance, then
she's awkwardly cold sober for the finish. Cruise is
smashing, as always ... but great performances seem a
bit of a waste in absence of a solid script.
Cruise plays an M.D. and ever-trusting husband
that Kidman desperately wants to make jealous.
Towards that goal, she tells of a poking incident in
their past. But, to make that tale really poking we
needed to see Cruise's rock solid trust in her
earlier on (not just hear of it). Perhaps a knowing
glance from Cruise while Kidman danced with a
debonair gentleman would have done the trick.
There were some outstanding performances by
secondary actors. Notable as well, was the
cinematography. Shot with a bit of a grain through a
softening filter to give the lights an eerie glow,
care was also taken to balance rich primary colors
nicely.
As for the odd script, I think there may have been
some big schematic symbolism -- as if the whole movie
had been an analogy for ... I don't know -- because
if there was, I sure didn't get it. And although
there were a few (very few) good lines; most were
stock, predictable, or less than memorable. I may
have tolerated the tediously slow build up if the
payoff was shocking; though the theme was a good one,
the real shocker is that there was no payoff.
As for the hot steamy sex ... there really wasn't
much of that either; just a lot of naked women
(although cruise has his shirt off as often as
possible). Perhaps since the primaries were two of
the sexiest people alive having meaningful lovemaking
in the opening sequences, and because they are
married in real life -- we regular folks might find
empathy concerning infidelity temptations a
strain.
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