Closer? No thanks, I'll keep my distance

Rating: 1/10 (13 May 2005)

The only redeeming thing about this movie was its cast. I watched this with my two roommates and at the end we were all depressed and confused as to why four such excellent actors would ever sign up for this movie.
When I say depressed, I mean DEPRESSED. This has to be one of the most depressing movies I've ever seen, not necessarily because of the subject matter (though that was depressing) but more because all four of the main characters were unlikeable and miserable the entire movie (Julia Roberts smiled maybe twice in the entire thing).
The movie tried to establish a theme of Lying and Being Lied To, but in the end just ended up being entirely predictable and boring. By the end you didn't really care who was lying and who was being lied to, nor did you care what happened to the characters because they were all so completely unlikeable (immoral and bland are the two best words that come to mind). Bland is a perfect word for this movie. Every scene was filmed in a dull, colorless location, with the exception of the strip club scenes, which were really the only salvageable scenes in the entire movie.
I really expected more from Mike Nichols, who directed the Graduate, a masterpiece where this was more like a flop. Some movies you can seek out the good points even if you dislike it in its entirety, but this had nothing short of the strip scenes and the cast to fall back on, and in the end that just wasn't enough.
I give it a 1/10. I was going to be generous and give it a 2, but that Damian Rice song, that just wouldn't go away, happened to be the straw that broke the camels back.