Its OK

Rating: 6/10 (6 January 2005)

I write this review on the sole basis of the movie. I have not seen the play, I don't want to see the play, I don't like plays. There I said it.
Closer is a movie that as a whole has a good message and a lot to say, but when looked at from scene to scene, little adds up. Before I tear into this one, I will focus on the positive.
Again, I did get the message and I could relate to what the film had to say. On that basis I have to give Closer a positive recommendation. The acting is decent all around, but any dramatic believability the film carries is due primarily to Clive Owen. He plays the honest character and also gives a more honest performance. Jude Law is good, but he seems stuck to the rhythmic stage dialog. Owen does more with his lines than anyone else. Natalie Portman is cutesy, but, and I mean this, she isn't a very good actress. Julia Roberts struggles to convince not only with her lines, but playing a photographer, you need to at least know how to hold a camera convincingly. How hard is that to learn?
The movie's massive fallibility is in its stage roots. Closer is not very cinematic and because of that, not very convincing. There is too much "play" between the actors with their wordy rhythmic exchanges. NOBODY TALKS LIKE THAT! Again this comes from my distaste for the stage, and I have even more distaste for filmed plays.
In the end, Closer succeeds in holding your interest thanks to some good humor and the ever honest Clive Owen.