Boy interrupted

Rating: Null/10 (30 November 2004)

Disclaimer: I 'd go to the movies just to watch Johnny Depp walk across the
street, so I'm certain that has colored my impressions of this film.
That being said, Depp does a lot more here than walk across the street,
although I think he should have had better writing to work with for his efforts. The story is compelling, the characters are complex and the setting -- early 20th century U.K. -- makes for great visuals (ball gowns, rustic country cottages, early cars and Victorian furnishings), but there is something that just falls short about this movie and I believe it is the writing. As a filmmaker, Forster is gifted and imaginative, which makes him well suited for the director's job on this film. His choice of folding in a play within the story of the movie was a good move. Yet it is ultimately the story path that becomes a problem -- one that wasn't helped by the less-than brilliant dialogue -- and that can be laid at the feet of both the writer and the film's editor. My complaint is that the story just doesn't hang together. In an attempt, perhaps, to elevate the James/Sylvia relationship to a higher plane, the movie merely makes it confused. Sexual tension is played
down, the overbearing mother role is way too played up and Barrie's poor
confused, lonely wife nibbles at the edges of a relationship that doesn't quite have a form.
The relationships in this film are complex and integrated, but yet the writers seem incapable of crafting a script that conveys how they are entwined. There is little exploration of Sylvia's past or how her losses affected her, not just her children. Barrie's marriage and wife are enigmatic to an extreme.
Despite all this, if I had a vote for best actor in next year's academy awards, Depp would get it. What an extraordinary actor. It is wonderful to watch him
work. And walk across the street.