Reviews by johanlefourbe

I have nothing against Steve Martin but most of  his movies are usually rather lame so I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick. However, the ratings were pretty decent and Roger Ebert really loved the damned thing so there was some hope. Unfortunately, I thought that it was really disappointing and I really had a hard time to care about the story and the character involved. I don’t know, maybe it had to with the fact that I’m French so ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’ is a really classic story in my home country and I don’t think I really needed a modern comedic twist on this timeless tale. Above all, I was just rather bored by the whole thing and I didn't think it was funny at all. At the end of the day, it is all supposed to be harmless, whimsical and charming but I just didn’t connect at all with the whole thing. Basically, even if you handle this concept within a drama, it is already difficult to take it really seriously but, in a comedy, I think it was just completely hopeless. Anyway, to conclude, even though I have seen worse, I thought it was pretty weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

Even though this movie is really obscure, since there was a really nice cast, I was really eager to check it out. Eventually, even though the whole thing really had some potential, even though there was indeed a very good cast (Billy Bob Thornton, Morgan Freeman, Kirsten Dunst, Holly Hunter) who delivered some decent performances, the whole thing didn’t really convince me.  Apparently, this movie was the directing debut of Ed Solomon (it would be also the last one he made), a writer behind some decent movies like ‘Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure’,  ‘Men in Black’ or ‘Now You See Me’ but also some rather misguided project like ‘Charlie's Angels’ or even awful like ‘Super Mario Bros.’. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, basically, even though the story was not bad and the characters involved were actually rather interesting, the whole thing just tried way too hard to be thoughtful. Indeed, at the end of the day, I thought it was actually rather pretentious and even slightly underwhelming. It is one thing to have some messed up characters but I’m afraid it is not enough to make a really compelling movie. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch, thanks to the fine actors involved,  and I think it is worth a look. 

To be honest, I wonder how I actually ended up watching this flick but, I guess, since I have weak spot for this director and since there was a interesting good cast involved, I thought I might as well give it a try. First of all, I really like those Ripley movies, in fact, I have seen all of them except for ‘Plein Soleil’ which is too bad because it seems to be the best of the bunch. Anyway, this time, the story was rather preposterous and over-the-top but I thought it was still quite entertaining. Indeed, the directing was decent enough and all the actors involved (especially Barry Piper) gave some good performances. I especially liked the tone of the movie which was some kind of a comical dark satire and I also enjoyed the nice chemistry between Barry Piper and  the lovely Jacinda Barrett (by the way, what the hell happened to her?!? By now, I have seen pretty much all her movies but it has been a while since she has done anything really interesting). Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing really ground-breaking, it turned out to be an entertaining thriller and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since there was a nice cast, I thought I should check it out anyway. Eventually, I must admit that I was actually positively surprised by the damned thing. Indeed, even though I'm a sucker for romantic comedies, most of them are just really disappointing but this one turned out to be a nice surprise. I mean, there was definitely enough annoying/lame/weird stuff in this movie but, somehow,  I still liked it anyway. First of all, the  cast involved (Jennifer Garner, Timothy Olyphant, Kevin Smith, Juliette Lewis) delivered some solid performances, especially Kevin Smith who just blew me away. Indeed, I thought he was just great in this flick. By now, I have watched all his movies and even though not everything he did was great, I'm still a fan. Anyway, in this movie, every time he was on the screen, I was just laughing my ass off. Concerning Jennifer Garner, this would be the last interesting lead part she would have and, during the next 10 years, she would be mostly known for first being married to Ben Affleck and then for divorcing him. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing mind-blowing whatsoever, I thought it was a decent and entertaining romantic comedy (something rare nowadays...) and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.