Not as boring as I thought it would be, but I still forced myself to stay awake.

Rating: Null/10 (30 July 1999)

This film is certainly not a masterpiece. Nevertheless, it's not terrible. It's a long and slow-moving film. As a result, I felt sleepy while watching this film. But the film was OK. I don't really understand what Stanley Kubrick was trying to get across with this film. This is an erotica film, and it's basically all about Tom Cruise's character (I originally thought that the film was going to be more about Nicole's character). I liked Tom's performance in this film. I like the way that his character evolves. However, I really was not impressed by Nicole's performance--in fact, there was nothing impressive about the character itself. At first she's drunk, then she's high, then she's sitting in their nice Central Park West apartment. In most of those scenes, she shows her naked body. I didn't like the interruption of the scene where Nicole and Tom are kissing in front of a mirror: during the scene you hear Chris Isaak's song, only to have that scene automatically interrupted and the song replaced with classical music. Another thing I didn't like was the grainy aspect of the film--what was the point of that??? Perhaps what really hurt the film more than anything else was the ending--a disappointing ending that'll make you say "that's it???" On another note, I thought that the orgy scene was done really well. The orgy scene was the best scene in the movie--not for its content, but because it was done in a stunning way. However, censorship destroyed the orgy scene (computer generated "people" were put in to block the sexual acts taking place in the scene). Overall this film is, like I said, OK. Some people say that Kubrick films require repeated viewings to really appreciate and "understand" the films. But with this one, seeing it once is just fine.