Hollywood gets existential

Rating: Null/10 (26 December 2000)

A much smarter movie than I had expected: subversive modernism doesn't usually come out of big-budget filmmaking. The main character begins by teaching capitalism to Muscovites and ends by chasing Texan artists. That's quite a journey. And by the way, Helen Hunt was perfect as Ms. Convention: when offered what she really wanted, her only response was "I'm terrified." Hank's loss of weight is only one of the more obvious metaphors about losing fear, like floating on a raft on the sea.