a very real cockfight

Rating: 7/10 (14 December 2004)

An updated "About Last Night," Closer is entertaining but boils down to the same old same old: a male cockfight about ownership. Jude Law plays almost the same character here as in Alfie, only in Alfie he was more entertaining and had a better sense of humor. His is the weakest link here, too; I simply don't find him attractive enough to be as convincing as he needs to be to pull this one off. Clive Owen is astounding. Julia shows that she needs not the glitchy girly charms we've come to expect from her, and how refreshing to realize she has true skill backing up those addictive looks. Natalie Portman is, well, hot, but a stripper she's not. She did her best, but east coast genius isn't really what should come peering out of that character. Still: the women are painted real. Good depiction of reality with extraordinary performances, and no fake redemption to spoil the scene. Some flaws, but I liked.