What Originated on Stage Should Have Remained on Stage

Rating: 6/10 (3 September 2010)

In movie form, "Closer" ended up being a bit of a turkey, but if nothing else it had the most attractive cast of 2004.
Jude Law, Julia Roberts, Clive Owen and Natalie Portman take the reins of this four-hander about relationships and the nastiness they can bring out in those involved. It's a fairly grueling, unpleasant exercise -- none of the characters is especially likable or even sympathetic, so it's hard to muster up any energy to care about them and their relatively insignificant problems. On stage this probably worked, but in a movie, restricting the point of view to four people doesn't make a lot of sense in context. If they're so miserable with each other, can't they branch out and date any number of the millions of other people living in New York?
Still, the acting is pretty impressive, especially from Clive Owen, as a truly vile character, and Natalie Portman, sexy and enigmatic.
Grade: C+