Beautiful filming... lousy acting.

Rating: Null/10 (7 June 2000)

I saw this last night on Film Four (Channel Four's digital movie channel) and my opinion of it hasn't improved since I last watched it on video. The most distracting part of this movie is, of course, Keanu Reeves' appalling 'English' accent.
I've questioned the use of second-rate American actors to play British people elsewhere on this site (Robert Downey Jnr.'s awful 'Dick Van Dyke' accent in Natural Born Killers). This is something that should be sorted out in the initial casting. Some people are good at accents, some aren't. Good actors should have no problem. As Quentin Tarantino said regarding the casting of Tim Roth as an American in Reservoir Dogs, "This is what actors do". He was wrong about Tim Roth, though (what a terrible New York accent that was...).
And then there is Sir Anthony Hopkins. It kills me to see such a fine actor perform so poorly. Was the director on set during the filming of these scenes?
It's such a shame that something as easily avoidable as this can ruin an otherwise brilliant and beautifully filmed movie. There is absolutely no suspension of disbelief, as you are always aware that you are simply watching actors, parading in front of a camera.
Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder and Tom Waits, however, give inspired performances, save the movie and make it worth watching for their performances alone. Hang on, aren't those last two Americans? Doing flawless English accents?.