Featured Movies
Partners
DerailedChicago seems the perfect backdrop for this tale of ordinary lives gone stale. The 'Windy City' announces its cold and bleak presence with rain, wet pavements and seedy hotels. There is commerce, of course, but even the world of big business seems dour in screenwriter Stuart Beattie's world of commuting drudgery. It's a million miles from the glamorous, anonymous LA that provided the backdrop for Collateral (Beattie's previous outing for director Michael Mann), but then that's the point.
Clive Owen plays Charles Schine ('Shine'), a by-the-book advertising exec whose life looks sorted - a loving wife, a pretty daughter, a good job - and yet he is dissatisfied. His dream American family are making increasing demands; if it isn't homework or household chores, then it's his daughter Amy's (Timlin) diabetes - which requires a home dialysis machine and constant penny pinching to afford the latest drugs. So, when offered the chance of excitement, Schine feels tempted.
Enter Lucinda Harris (Aniston), a friendly, attractive stranger. In a random act of kindness, she offers to pay for his train fare, and Schine strikes up a conversation. Both are business people. They seem alike. They're both married and they have daughters on whom they dote to distraction. When they part, Schine is determined to repay the favour, but at what price to his family?
On the surface, Swede Mikael H??fstr?¶m's English-language debut looks promising - it's based on a bestselling novel, adapted for the screen by a hot young writer, and features a strong, diverse, international cast. And yet it falls short. The film looks good; cinematographer Peter Biziou uses the city's dark colour palate to emphasise the weight on Schine's world-weary shoulders. H??fstr?¶m's direction, by contrast, feels piecemeal - the pacing is off, and the set up fails to develop a sympathetic picture of Schine as a father. When he finally decides to cross the line, we're not really pleading for him to resist - his change of heart simply seems inevitable.
Owen, who won a Golden Globe for Closer, is on autopilot here, although he's not helped by his character's inability to make sensible decisions. Aniston, consistently great as a comic performer, seems out of step, giving a performance that feels jarring and slight. And while Vincent Cassel is fun, his hammy portrayal of LaRoche is about as sinister as Alan Rickman's Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves.
|
