Cracking first 46 minutes. Then, oh dear.

Rating: Null/10 (24 March 2011)

If the credits had rolled after 46 minutes, I'd be raving about this as one of the best films I've seen in years. Hilarious, profane and bracingly original, with a killer performance from Will Smith and a deliciously dry one from Jason Bateman. Unfortunately it completely falls apart after that, morphing into a metaphysical love story of rare incoherence and tedium. Rarely have I come across a film - or a book, or a record, or a meal - with such a gaping gulf between the quality of its first half and its second. Gaah. The script was in development for 10 years, being fundamentally re-written with no input from the original author. Could that by any chance be something to do with it?