Gaping Holes...

Rating: Null/10 (4 December 2004)

We don't know these people as characters because, quite simply, we never see them together as their relationships build... Marber tires to bring the stage to the screen TOO MUCH, which is to say that he over-relies on dialogue to create characters--shaky ground considering the essence of plot is character in action... The fact that 90% of the second act takes place AFTER the fact, with sometimes years skipping in between scenes, left me wanting to know what happened in between those moments--maybe then, Law's Dan would come off as more than an effeminate Romeo...
The only one who comes close to giving any semblance of authenticity to a character's desire in a scene is Owen, and even then it's hard to not be put off by his incessant yelling (an attempt to manifest his insecurities, I guess, that opposes Law's whining)...
Portman is willing and daring as the youngest of this bunch to be welcomed into their morally perverse world, and I question her youth as a possibility for her being able to exit the rut. Could Nichols be making a statement here that "adult" love is something inherently different from the youthful idea of it? Maybe, and more time with Portman would have shown that, I'm sure...
Roberts is underused here, unfortunately...