Overblown, overhyped

Rating: 6/10 (10 December 2000)

This movie is generally an overblown piece of trite filmmaking. The concept is not bad, and some of the scenes are really quite fascinating and intriguing (I loved the shots of the construction of the machine, and the sequence of events showing how the team of scientists finds all of the clues necessary to build the machine). But the film is tarnished by two things in particular. One, it takes itself waaaaaaaaay too seriously. And two, worst of all, the movie is really held back by grotesquely bad acting performances and casting. Rob Lowe, James Woods, and Matthew McConaughey all deliver seriously flawed performances (Woods' and Lowe's characters are nothing more than stereotypical caricatures) hurt even more by the awful lines they are forced to utter.
There is a good movie waiting to be made here. This isn't it.