It's incredible all right...

Rating: 1/10 (19 October 1999)

And I don't mean that in a good way. Perhaps the most highly acclaimed feature of CHINATOWN is its script, which surprises me because of all the totally implausible elements written therein. Incredulity abounds. For one thing, I found the romance between the two leads to be unconvincing at best. Worse still was director Roman Polanski's rewrite of scenarist Robert Towne's originally happy, originally good ending. (Spoiler coming) Maybe it's just me, but I have a serious problem with the way this movie ends. The emotionally distraught Evelyn Mulwray, her life and mental health in ruins because of her father, is pointing a gun at this heartless monster and only succeeds in shooting a hole through the sleeve of his jacket. Oh, come ON. She got herself killed and all she had to show for it was a ruined jacket? Please! Plus, the fact that our hero keeps screwing up and repeats the past just defeats his own effort to help Evelyn. I'm sorry, I just don't like it. I think it's stupid. Granted, it's well-done overall, but there is just too much material here that stretches the limits of plausibility. The ending, which is supposed to be a very strong point in a film, is far too poorly done. Depressing does not make a movie a masterpiece, nor does its being a "classic."