Reviews

I own the Broadway cast on DVD, saw the revival on Broadway with Beth Fowler and Bob Gunton, then saw the recent revival on Broadway with Patti LuPone and Michael Cerveris. I also think most adaptation of movie musicals suck as a whole. I was surprised and thrilled with this entire production with one exception. Helena Bonham Carter. She looked like she was on thorazine throughout the entire movie. Her affect was flat as a pancake. Her singing was also flat lacking almost any inflection whatsoever. I understand that these people are not Broadway caliber singers but it really wasn't noticeable because the acting for the most part was so strong. It just always seems that there is one character in any of these adaptations that just can't live up to the part. Unfortunately it happens to be someone is a crucial and significant role in this case. Just for the record, I happen to like her a great deal as an actress. She was seriously miscast in this role.

THERE MAY BE SPOILERS Well how can you sum up this movie, three different plots that are loosely tied together by circumstance. Wasn't this done already? First you have the Rich Americans vacationing in the middle east who have to deal with a serious health issue. No problem, the kindly and understanding Arabs do everything in their power to aid the misfortunate Americans, in spite of the United States labeling the injuries as a result of terrorism, which it clearly is not. The kind Arabs are misunderstood, and the supposed terror act was nothing more than an accident compounded by a misunderstanding. Then in spite of the injuries the US embassy is unwilling to immediately provide assistance, (hurricane Katrina anyone). In the end of this little cliffhanger the kindly and extremely poor Arabs refuse to even take money from Brad Pitt for their assistance, how noble.

Tying into this story is Brad Pitt's children which are left in the care of their saintly illegal alien caretaker. Their bond is so strong that she speaks to them in Spanish and they understand every word. Through another series of mishaps she ends up stranded in the dessert with the two children due to the repulsive and bullying border patrol. How dare they question people coming into our country! When its learned that she is there illegally she is deported. Heartless! and she rents a house and all her stuff is there. What is the world coming too. People not able to live illegally wherever they want.

The third story is the only one that didn't have a clear anti-American theme which is that of a girl trying to deal with the grief of her mothers suicide and fathers alienation by trying to get it on with every male she comes across. To make her more sympathetic the character is also deaf.

This movie is a ripoff of crash in every sense of the word. Whether people liked crash or not is irrelevant, the point is its a ripoff. Not original at all. The underlying theme is clearly that of Anti-American sentiment. The acting was extremely good, the plot contrived and it was about an hour too long. In addition I am getting tired of listening to the movie industry pontificate about this country. Solid debate or opinion that expresses both sides of an issue is healthy, one sided rhetoric designed to influence the thinking of the average empty headed movie goer is not.