A character-study of unlikable characters

Rating: 4/10 (21 July 2006)

Alice. Dan. Larry. Anna.
Award-winning romantic drama Closer focuses solely on these four characters living in London and explores the complex relationships that form between them. There is infidelity, lust, love, misunderstandings and jealousy. Mike Nichols directs this character study of human relationships based on the same-titled play by Patrick Marber and the result is nothing noteworthy, in spite of having high profile names like Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Clive Owen and Julia Roberts gracing its cast list.
Closer is a poorly executed film that takes itself far too seriously by featuring pseudo-insights about relationships, and it breaks the fundamental rule of good film-making -- you have to care for at least one of the central characters, and none of these people are even remotely likable. In fact, they are downright selfish and superficial. What makes the film an even worse experience is that it features desperately quirky dialogue by these unlikable characters that just ends up completely unbelievable and often cringe-worthy. None of the high-profile actors manage to deliver these lines with any credibility, but in all fairness, writing like this is difficult to work with and having read the play by Patrick Marber, I found it far-fetched even on paper.
As for acting, Clive Owen does his best dry oak impression and whenever he is brave enough to actually attempt a different and less stale face, he ends up varying between two extremes -- wooden and exasperated over-emoting. Julia Roberts' emotion spectrum ranges from having a smug smile to looking 'slightly bothered', thereby cementing her place as one of the least versatile actresses working in Hollywood today.
The good aspect of Closer is its style. The direction by Nichols is subtle, the music score is sexy and this gives it an elegantly crafted style and tone. Of course, this makes the film break another fundamental rule of good film-making -- style over substance. Closer is watchable but humourless to the core and toward the end, I realised I didn't give a damn about any of the characters and instead wished they'd all end up alone to reevaluate their skewed perspective on relationships.
4/10