Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this movie but since I have a weak spot for both Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow, I thought it should check it out. Eventually, I’m afraid the whole thing turned out to be rather underwhelming. It's too bad because Don Roos who made before 'The Opposite of Sex' seemed to be an interesting director. Basically, it is one of those typical romantic-comedies based on a misunderstanding/lie and I always thought that this concept was  utterly predictable, pointless, rather obnoxious and just plain boring. I mean, as a viewer, since you already have all the answers about what's going on, how is it supposed to be entertaining in any way? Furthermore, sooner or later (usually later), the characters will all find out what was actually going on, then they always break up but they usually end up together (ooops... I hope I didn't spoil it for you...). At least, Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow were bother really charming, they both did their best with this material and I thought they had some good chemistry. Still, even though it wasn't really bad, I thought it was a boring and unoriginal romantic-comedy and it is not really worth a look, even if you like the genre.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since I was directed by Stephen Frears, I thought I might as well check it out. Furthermore, even though Michelle Pfeiffer might not be anymore one of the most famous actress in the world, I always had a weak spot for her. For this movie, she was working again with Stephen Frears more than 20 years after ‘Dangerous Liaisons’ which sounded quite promising. Eventually, even though both movies were costume dramas, they didn’t have much in common and this movie never reached the level of ‘Dangerous Liaisons’  which must be one of the best movies delivered by Frears. I mean, it wasn’t really bad and there were many things I actually enjoyed about this flick. Indeed, the whole thing (costumes, sets,...) looked really neat, the directing was decent emough, the acting was quite good and the dialogues were very nice and witty. However, I didn’t care much about the story and, even if it wasn't comptetely boring, it wasn't far from it, I'm afraid. At least, the characters were rather interesting but I didn't care much about what they were going through. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a well made costume drama and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

With Nicolas Cage, you never know what you'll get. Indeed, you could be  either a critial hit ('Bad Lieutenant') or something pretty lame ('Bangkok Dangerous'). This time around, the main character portrayed by Cage was a total loser, or at least someone who didn't appreciate his life but, still, I thought this flick was pretty good and I don't really understand why everyone says it was depressing. In fact, I thought the damned thing was actually pretty funny, sometimes even hilarious. On top of that, for once, you had here a rather realistic comedy which was more interesting than all those moronic comedies produced every year. Finally, Nicolas Cage was pretty good but I enjoyed even more Michael Caine who gave once again one of his amazing understated performances. The only issue was maybe that there were too many sub-plots dealing with archery, pedophilia and other things but the relationships between the different characters were already interesting , in my opinion. For Gore Verbinski, this flick was quite a change of pace (he had just released the first ‘Pirates of the Carribean’ and would make back-to-back the 2 sequels after this movie) but his fans were apparently not really supportive. Anyway, to conclude, I thought it was a pretty good flick and it is definitely worth a look.

Even though I used to be a huge fan of Woody Allen's work, I have to admit that I don’t really care much about his movies anymore. I mean, I still check them whenever I have the opportunity but, in my opinion, it has been decades since he has delivered anything really mindblowing. This flick was a perfect example. Indeed, even though it must be one of his most acclaimed recent directing efforts, it turned out to be a decent watch but I thought it was still nothing really amazing after all. I mean, there was a very good cast (Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz), they all delivered some pretty good performances and there was some really good dialogues, especially at the beginning. Unfortunately, even if Allen gave us 4 intriguing characters all involved in some even more intriguing relationships, the whole thing never went anywhere after all. As a matter of fact, at the end, Rebecca Hall’s and Scarlett Johansson’s characters end up basically at the same position they started . Eventually, I really loved the first half and it reminded me of Allen's best work but, while the second half was watchable, it was still rather underwhelming. Anyway, to conclude, even though I think it is actually rather overrated, I have to admit that it was still an entertaining romantic flick and it is definitely worth a look.