A sad end for Mr Kubrik's career

Rating: 1/10 (30 March 2000)

After seeing YWS, my first thought was that Mr Kubrik, gifted movie maker that he was, had not the slightest feeling for the nature of the bonds between real people. My second thought was that Cruise and Kidman were perfect "actors" for this movie, as they are both perfect facades with absolutely nothing behind those facades. Interesting.
On reflecting on this movie overnight, my initial reactions are unchanged.
The only interesting thing about this movie is that so many people seem to have found it interesting and/or excellent. Even Mr Ebert has found nice things to say about this goofy movie. Maybe he didn't want to say harsh things about a dead man's last movie, or wanted to show respect for Mr Kubrik.
The movie utterly fails my first test for any movie - that it suspends disbelief, and draws me into the movie's reality. Never during the movie was I drawn into it. It was a long 2½ hour movie about Tom and Nicole being in a goofy Kubrik movie.
The story-line, about a man 10 years married going off into a wild sexual fantasy because his wife confessed that she'd lusted after another man the year before, might have been credible in 1920 Vienna. It's just plain silly when the setting is 1999 New York.
I gather there was a lot of hullabaloo about digital alterations made to the orgy scenes. I don't understand the hullabaloo. The movie would have been no less goofy if full clinical details of sexual intercourse had been laid out on the screen.
I've greatly admired several of Mr Kubrik's movies, and will probably see them again. This sad piece isn't one of them.