Neat premise, disappointing execution

Rating: 5/10 (6 July 2002)

This is the first time in a good while that I've thought repeatedly of bailing out on a movie - and that with a movie I'd wanted to see for some time.
I found the premise promising from the start. I like John Malkovich as an actor, and it sounded like a creative, fun way to go. I looked for a fun, imaginative time.
The Creative Forces, however, thought otherwise. [Possible SPOILERS ahead.] They thought this would be a great time to create unlikable, amoral, vicious, clueless characters and have them carry the movie. They thought themes of adultery, new forms of sexual perversion (just what we needed!), and constant sexual banter would be daring and risky and great cocktail-party fodder.
Well, maybe it was for them, but it isn't for me. I've never thought adultery was funny or interesting, and odds are excellent that I never will. And that was a central theme: married man pursues vicious, despicable woman... only to be joined in the pursuit by his wife. Ho ho ho, how cutting-edge. Yawn.
I'm thinking my "5" was overgenerous, as I write. I do not recommend the film. A clever idea was poured through a filthy sieve. Pity.