Good performances from Law & Owen overcome unlikeable characters, story gaps

Rating: 7/10 (20 December 2004)

A good performance from Jude Law and a great performance from Clive Owen help elevate Mike Nichols' flawed Closer. The story centers around four rather unsavory (but attractive) characters who use and abuse each other unmercifully, but attempt to let each other down as gently as possible. The movie covers about 18 months of this story, but we primarily get the break-up scenes after the relationships of Dan (Law) and Alice (Natalie Portman), and Larry (Owen) and Anna (Julia Roberts) are established. These scenes are pretty intense, and contain language that will probably shake up a good deal of Roberts' loyal audience. These are the scenes that Owen shines in, as he shifts from wounded animal to drunken anger to conniving weasel effortlessly. It wouldn't be out of line to suggest a nomination of some kind for his work here. I had a few cosmetic problems with the film. Portman wears the same hair-do that she had for The Professional, and as a result looks like she's about 16, tops. Her performance is good enough, but I think someone with a few more miles on them, not quite as angelic-looking, could have given the film a little more punch. The half-year gaps in the story didn't help, either, as the attraction Dan & Larry had for Anna was never sufficiently fleshed out for my tastes. Let's be honest, these two don't exactly look like they would have much trouble finding women, and why they chose to fight so vigorously over a cold fish like Anna was a little perplexing. Roberts has the most difficult role to play in the film, as she is basically the prize that Larry and Dan are fighting over, and she serves as sort of a verbal punching bag for Law and Owen to spar with. She does an admirable job, but the two male leads, especially Owen, carry the film.