A Near Perfect Effort

Rating: 9/10 (21 February 2002)

Ron Howard seems to be back in form with this nice movie. I even enjoyed Mr. Crowe whom I feel is an over rated actor. What has been troubling Mr. Howard's most recent movies is his temptation to paste them as American Pie slices of a generic visual experience. I didn't believe for a minute the cliche acting and directing in his Apollo 13 movie. But, here he seems to be back in true form more in touch with his early films like Parenthood and The Paper. If not for the sappy ending, this would be a perfect film. It is not the film that Lord of the Rings is or even The Man Who Wasn't There, but it will probably win best picture and Howard just may take in his first directing award. Too bad, because even though this is an excellant film, the awards should go to the best. Still, by all means everyone should see this film if not just for Mr. Crowe's performance and the story (a true one) in itself.