Disappointing

Rating: 9/10 (17 November 2004)

As a big fan of Charlie Kaufman's previous work (especially "Adaptation" and the badly underrated, absolutely hilarious "Human Nature"), i had very high expectations for this film. Unfortunately, i must say that i was very disappointed. As i sat in the theater, i desperately tried to enjoy it, but i found that i just couldn't. For one thing, it really wasn't very funny. Also, i found it unnecessarily confusing (which i feel may have been deliberate, but ultimately not beneficial to the film). Above all, though, i just couldn't bring myself to empathize with the lead characters. What can i say? I just don't like Jim Carrey or Kate Winslet. To me, Jim Carrey has yet to convincingly play a serious role, and i've honestly never liked Kate Winslet in anything she's been in. Also, i thought the two of them lacked convincing chemistry together. But overall, i just feel like the film was probably just too abstract and high-concept an idea for anyone (even Kaufman, the king of high-concept) to be able to pull off well.