No, unfortunately

Rating: 5/10 (18 October 1999)

Since there are already buckets of comments about EWS, I'll be brief:
1) Hard to believe this really was the final cut. Scenes disappear into nowhere, the pace is sometimes deadly slow, and the whole structure looks indulgent, even by Kubrick's standards.
2) Too much Cruise and not enough Kidman, who brings a tremendous virtuosity and depth to her limited part.
3) As always with Stan, utterly brilliant use of Ligeti's music, which stopped me from hating the film altogether. Nice camerawork and lighting in places, too.
4) Good bits: the row in the apartment (contains the best writing in an otherwise unworthy script); the orgy (though only for its style, not for its content); the moment when Cruise finds the mask; er... that's it.
5) Why doesn't Sydney Pollack act more often? He's terrific!
6) I don't have a problem with sex in movies, but here it was gratuitous and actually rather sad. One can, unfortunately, easily imagine Kubrick doing the editing using only one hand.
7) The last line is predictable and stupid, and rather trivialises the whole thing.
In short, EWS can't make up its mind whether it's a Hitchcockian thriller or a psychological study of sexual relations within a couple. If SK had stuck to the latter, it would probably have been a very good film. Unfortunately, despite flashes of his previous brilliance, this one doesn't work, and it's sad that this is the note he went out on. Still, at least Cruise nearly manages to act.