Linear and dull, but...

Rating: 4/10 (17 February 2012)

A beautiful yet totally dull movie. It is easy to see why Ryan O'Neal never became a big star after 'Love Story'. The camera loves him and he loves himself, yet there are no emotions. We know he is deeply in love because the narrator tells us. We know he is angry and jealous, because he says he is. We know he is sad, nostalgic and melancholic because we see tears on his face. I watched the whole movie agape, laughing at its plodding linearity and it's total lack of valleys or peaks. The actions of the characters are driven by the script, not by impulsion, greed, love, friendship or fear. Marisa Berenson comes off better than Mr. O'Neal, though less is asked of her. The ending is perfunctory. With as little heart or drive as the events that first set Barry Redmond on his trip away from Ireland. Why did Stanley Kubrick make this movie with nothing to say? Was it an atonement to those he shocked with the brilliant 'Clockwork Orange'?