a good primer on why telling the truth is not a sign of maturity.

Rating: 6/10 (4 December 2004)

The more this movie progressed the less I liked it and the characters that inhabit it. Well.. except for Natalie Portman, who's still adorable as a self loathing waif. The language gets to be quite brutal and crude, and is reminiscent of Nichols' earlier grittier 'Carnal Knowledge'. This is the way writers want people to talk when they're more concerned with being genuine than with being evolved.
Clive Owen puts a big dent in his 'new heart throb' rating with a really vicious turn as a sleazy Doctor whose only emotional range seems to be egotistic rage vented on anyone who he can't control or who bests him. His lines are the most profane in the movie, mixing every common sexual expletive with his vitriol. But he thinks he's being wonderfully genuine!
Julia Roberts plays a co-dependent who goes with whichever of the male leads who wants her the most at the time. She's playing against her star quality and she does fine in this ratcheted down persona. Jude Law on the other hand struggles as a feckless loser who feels secure with Natalie's one down role but is over his head with the stronger Julia.
The movie has many problems. The lines work better on stage, and the characters would be better played by actors not movie stars - again I would exclude darling Natalie who is still enjoying quirky character roles. The dialogue is clever but as it comes from the mouths of shallow people trying to tell the truth it just comes out as self evident dialogue. Finally it fails because uninteresting hollow people just aren't interestingÂ…except for sweet little Natalie, of course.