An interesting, oddly-moving movie

Rating: 8/10 (4 December 2004)

When I went to see Closer last night I wasn't exactly sure what I was in for. I had read a few reviews and knew it was mostly dialogue and that the movie could span months and even years in a few scenes. But the plot looked unique and I love the actors so I drove the extra thirty miles to Salem, the closest theater that had it playing, with a friend of mine to watch it.
I was very impressed. The acting was amazing. I especially loved Natalie Portman's performance. The scene with her and Clive Owen's character in the strip club was really fun to watch; definitely new territory for the actress. She is so gorgeous, too! I have known that, of course, but saw it more in this movie. I love the flawless-ness of her face. (I'm envious!) She did a really good job with her character, and was by far the most intriguing character of the movie. She was mysterious, had lots of moods, and lied much more than you realize at first, even though she really is the only "victim" of the movie.
I liked the job Julia Roberts did just because it was so new for her. I thought that her and Jude had great chemistry and it was nice to see her break out of her romantic comedy roles. Jude did wonderfully, as always, although you inevitably hate his character. Clive Owen, whom actually acted in the original play, did a likewise good job at being very unlikeable.
The plot itself was very unique, and although weird at first, I ended up liking it. Especially on the drive home discussing the movie with my friend. I really think its a movie you appreciate more as time goes on. It starts out with the meeting of Jude and Natalie's character and then jumps a year to the next scene where he's written a book using her life (or at least what he thinks his her life) as his inspiration. Here you see him getting his picture taken by Julia's character and they instantly hit it off and start kissing. It's reeling at first, very hard to believe after just watching him fall for Natalie, but once you get into the pace of the movie you stop thinking about stuff like that. The scenes between the characters are so absorbing and their conversations so emotionally charged and shocking that you just live for the moment and the scene in the movie and forget about the fact that you didn't see the relationship lead up to this point.
I highly recommend this movie to anyone who is out to see something different-as long as they can handle some very sexually explicit language-and anyone who wants to see well-known actors try something incredibly new for them...and do a very good job at it.