Trying too hard to be clever

Rating: 4/10 (22 May 2000)

There were several amusing moments in this movie, but the overall feeling I got from this film was how contrived it was. The premise itself was original at first, but after Cusack, Diaz and Keener kept landing on the side of the New Jersey Turnpike over and over again it got pretty silly. Cusack and especially Diaz (surprise!) played their roles well. Keener has been good in other pictures but she basically played a one note character here and didn't impress me much. The various gimmicks, such as the 7 1/2 floor, the portal, the really dumb gag with Mary Kay Place mishearing everyone, were really nothing to rate this as some kind of film masterpiece. John Malkovich was self-deprecating and he really lifted this picture when he arrived on the scene. His unintended "conversion" to a new profession and the way it was presented was the best part of the movie. It was a case though, of the writer and director trying to be way too clever and the enduring value of this movie will not last very long.