"Eyes Wide Shut" is disappointing final film for Kubrick

Rating: 6/10 (8 November 2013)

Stanley Kubrick made some great movies in his day---but this is not one of them. Simply put, "Eyes Wide Shut" meanders all over the place and the director himself never seems to know exactly what kind of film he's making. Is it a murder mystery? Is it an exploitative shocker? Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, the two totally baffled leads in this clunker, never really grasp any tangible idea that's being presented and act like they don't know if they're coming or going. Kubrick, being the iron-fisted controlling director that he was, completely stifles the couple and it shows. Both of them give the appearance that they'd rather be anywhere else but on the set. Ms. Kidman is only on-screen about half the time compared to her soon-to-be ex-husband Cruise. She's the lucky one. Cruise's character (a Manhattan doctor) is vapid, indecisive, confused and disillusioned---and that's just from him reading Kubrick's script. Harvey Keitel and Jennifer Jason Leigh were enlightened enough to have jumped out of appearing in this movie before the first morning rushes. Instead, Sydney Pollack does his best with the weak writing and nonsensical story as does poor Leelee Sobieski. As for the movie itself, the sex scenes fall flat as a pancake, the plot is irrelevant, and the actors look like they all want to hang themselves. Luckily for the public-at-large, only a few of them went to see this bomb. It's a shame because Kubrick was one of the great directors of his day. At least one can always rent "Lolita," or "Dr. Strangelove," or "Paths of Glory," etc. All of those films are far superior in every way than this woeful concoction. The only thing you can ask yourself if you happen to sit through this abomination is "What was Stanley thinking?" There is no answer. According to many sources, Kubrick himself was very disappointed that this movie was a dud and that he wasted fifteen months of his life making it. He wasn't the only one. The studio wasn't happy either. "Eyes Wide Shut" was also a box-office failure.