Stanley did a bad, bad thing...

Rating: Null/10 (14 September 1999)

Having ridden the 3-hour course of Stanley Kubrick's final film, I regret to say I emerged from the cinema decidedly saddle-sore. To say this slight tale of a young professional couple's extra-marital fantasies is a long, drawn-out affair is an understatement. I can't help feeling the story (what little there is of it) could have been told in half the time. The situation is not helped by the actors' slow, drug-affected speech and the constant reiteration of each other's lines. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman both put in generally competent performances, although Cruise's intonation at times resembles that of Jack Nicholson's character in "The Shining" as he (Jack) descends into madness. The much hyped orgy scene fails to shock. In fact, I cannot think of any aspect of the movie which will linger in the mind, unlike the images of Kubrick's previous two works, "Full Metal Jacket" and "The Shining". The one redeeming feature of this film is the music: Kubrick once again employs the music of Ligeti (the echoing single piano notes are most atmospheric) and this time Shostakovich's Jazz Suite, together with a too brief snippet of Chris Isaak's Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing to add colour to the visuals. Some of the director's well-known trademarks are still to be found... The stark white on black titles, and the ubiquitous bathroom scene (here, it occurs only 3 minutes into the film), but I cannot help thinking that the subject matter would be more suited to other directors... Martin Scorsese, perhaps? It is a thousand pities that Kubrick did not shelve this movie instead of the A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) project. Now that WOULD have been a work perfectly suited to Kubrick's attributes and surely a fitting swan song. Sadly, we will never know. If nothing else, "Eyes Wide Shut" demonstrates once again that success depends on three factors... screenplay, screenplay and screenplay. The final word of dialogue, spoken by Kidman, could be said to sum up the entire film. Sorry, but I DID try to like it....really.