Give me a break!

Rating: 4/10 (19 July 2001)

Although this movie is not out in the States yet I was able to catch it on a trip to London. I'm sorry, but I just could not get past Nicholas Cage with that horrible Italian accent and phony "love of life" demeanor. Penelope Cruz was great, as was John Hurt. These two are in a class far above Nicholas Cage who seems to be limited to action movie and the occasional chick flick. However, I have to say that Christian Bale stole the show. Especially bearing in mind that the leads were all playing characters of a different nationality than their own, Christian Bale was the only one who came across as convincingly Greek. In fact, I didn't even realize it was him at first despite having seen him in Metroland other films. The film was hardly as gripping or well-performed as the English Patient, which I think it pretends to. Why couldn't they have had Greek and Italian actors in the lead parts, speaking in their own languages (with the translation in subtitles)?? This movie was a sad day for Nicholas Cage and a sad day for fans of international films if this is the kind of Hollywoodization we can expect in the future.