Reviews

This movie is about a woman, or two women, who are spiritually connected like twins even though they were born in two different European cities, Paris and Krakow. That's about all I can say about the plot of this movie because it leaves you guessing at everything else. A bit of mystery and some unanswered questions that leave you pondering after a movie are okay, but this one left me thinking that the director and/or writer thought that their emotional imagery was enough and that the audience is owed nothing more. I disagree. This could have been a fantastic movie if there were more information provided.

I caught this movie on HBO Signature and almost turned it off after the first 10 minutes, but then I got caught up in some of the interesting performances of the actors. The movie is a not-so-surprising who-done-it involving a college girl who overdoses under suspicious circumstances surrounding her new bad-girl friends.

The plot line is solid though not hugely interesting or imaginative. What kept me watching this movie were the performances of Taye Diggs and Meredith Monroe. This is one of those movies where the characters could easily fall into cliche: black cop with an attitude in a rich college kid town; rich bitch girl who's daddy does not understand her.

Some of the credit might have to go to the scipt, but Taye Diggs is just great in putting a Gary-Cooper manner into his character of the Sheriff, giving him far more depth than you'd expect from this movie. It was impressive the way that the character was played as completely indifferent to the obvious racial juxtapositioning.

Meredith Monroe is absolutely terrific in this movie. I'd seen her before on Dawson's Creek and never would have suspected she could play a role as subtly brilliant as this one. She never overplays a role that has all the earmarks of a formula character. Monroe is enchanting here and I think she's going to be a star.

Some of the sex scenes seemed out of place in this movie. I don't understand the reason for all the girl-girl kissing and implied sex after the point was made that the central character was not what she seemed. (Other than the obvious, I mean.)

Overall, this movie was not a spell-binder or a must see, but it is absolutely worth watching just for the interesting character portrayals by Taye Diggs and Meredith Monroe.

I had not previously seen any films with Adrienne Shelly that were not tied to writer/director Hal Hartley. With Hartley's unique dialogue style, I could not help wondering if Ms. Shelly would seem like a different actress playing a non-Hartley part. That's the main reason I picked up this movie at all. It turns out that the Hartley characters were indeed a reflection of Hartley. Shelly is different in this movie, but holds on to the charm that illuminated the Hartley movies. I found this movie to be heartfelt and remarkably well written. Shelly and Crudup are both underrated actors who gave subtle depth to these characters that might otherwise have been missing. This is definitely an indie-lover's movie, but if you like a good story, captivating dialogue, and great acting, you'll like this movie. I truly wish actors like Shelly and Crudup could get more exposure in higher-profile films instead of the Keanu Reaveses and J-Lo's that are shoved down our throats. (note: "Almost Famous" was a good start.)

This film crosses the line between clever slapstick and absurdly unfunny shock gags. In one scene, when Carrey's character finally "breaks", he spies a well endowed woman breastfeeding a baby. The next thing you know, Carrey has replaced the baby and is breastfeeding himself. If that wasn't bad enough, after that we see him driving with a milk mustache. If you think this sort of thing is funny, you'll love this film. Speaking of not funny, I guess the director thought it would be funny if Carrey's character were the biological father of 3 large black teenagers with crude language, rapper accents, and Einstein IQs. Wanna guess how he accomplishes this? Pet detective, this ain't.