Ugh...

Rating: 5/10 (6 January 2004)

I knew the movie was in trouble as soon as the opening battle was over. I've heard some people say that it was the best part of the whole movie, and I thought it was a poorly edited confusing mess...I.E. they are right and it is better than most of the rest of the movie. Nicole and Jude's characters completely bored me. I didn't give a crap about either of them and didn't believe they were in love for one second. Nicole had more chemistry with that rooster than with Jude. Nicole is incredibly miscast in this movie. I didn't believe her in this roll. It is easily her worst performance that I've seen, and I've seen Birthday Girl. Jude was a lot better than Nicole and was pretty good in some scenes, but I still just couldn't connect with his character at all and just like Nicole, his accent was very questionable in many parts. People were trying to kill him and I really just couldn't have cared less if he lived or died. Nicole and him lacked any chemistry at all in the beginning scenes so it was impossible for me to understand how he could risk death to just see her again "for 10 minutes." This is the kind of movie you have to care about the lead character for it to work, and I down right hated them for the most part. I was more emotionally connected to just about everyone else in the movie than Ada and Inman. Even some of the bad guys that I wasn't supposed to like. Horrible editing, cheesy dialogue (I call this nail 'Northern aggression.'), painfully melodramatic, repetitive, lifeless lead characters, uninspired directing, and just plain BORING. There is only one thing that saves this from being even worse than TEP...Renee. You only really comprehend how dull everybody else's performances are when Renee absolutely puts them all to shame. She is the highlight of every scene she is in and saves the movie from being completely unwatchable. I absolutely loved her and I hope she wins the Oscar.
They should have just made a Ruby movie because the rest is a complete waste of time. The only other parts I liked besides Renee was Natalie Portman's scene and Philip Seymour Hoffman's character. A completely lifeless bore that you'd have to pay me to watch again.
5.5/10