This movie blows. It's bad beyond compare.

Rating: 1/10 (22 July 1999)

I saw this movie in a popular Los Angeles cinema on its opening day. I've never heard more yawning, himming and hawning, and shifting in theater seats like I heard during this movie. And there's good reason: this movie was bad.
If you liked this movie, then you are just one of those bandwagon fans who doesn't have a mind of his own. You probably liked Malick's joke-of-a-war-movie "The Thin Red Line." Remember how everybody pulled the ol' "emperor's new clothes" bit with that guy? Hollywood was afraid to say that this was one of the worst war movies ever made because they put so much money into his work. And this is exactly the same response to Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut. This by far was one of the most boring films I've ever seen in my life of going to the cinema. I feel embarrassed for anybody who says it was good. I challenge those people to sit through it again. I'd rather go to the dentist. And how bad was that score? That horrific pounding of the single note from a piano was such a bad joke to anybody who knows how to score films. Movie goers were laughing every time that single note pounded into our brains. It failed in building suspense, and in fact, pulled me out of the scene all together. And how laughable was that orgy scene? Half the theater was laughing during that scene too. And gee, we suffered so much because we couldn't actually see the actors simulating sex up close and personal. As if that would've saved this bad movie.
The only positive I can offer is that Tom and Nicole did a fantastic job with such bad material, and dare I say, such bad direction. That's right, Stanley blew it with his direction. And let's be honest, any guy who does 70 takes per setup per scene isn't a genius. He's obsessive compulsive and sadly over-rated in his ability to work with actors. Again, it's like Terrance Malick. If you shoot 1.2 million feet of film in your movie, you're bound to come up with enough good shots to make yourself look good despite all your shortcomings.
I cannot recommend this bad bad movie.