"Fictions, my friend... The vulgar fictions of a demented Irishman"

Rating: Null/10 (9 August 2003)

Interview with the Vampire is problematic, to say the least. Problem one: the film is directed by Neil Jordan from a script by Anne Rice. Remember the last time Jordan tried to make a film from someone else's script? The result was We're No Angels, an overcooked turkey in the eyes of all... so bad in fact, that Jordan was forced back to Ireland with his tail between his legs [until the success of The Crying Game made him hot property once again].
Problem two is Rice herself. It has always been my opinion that she lacks real depth as a writer, her style is simply too bland and superficial. She does have a rudimentary skill with creating mild tension, and her central characters are always memorable, but in terms of literary or storytelling ability she pales... especially in comparison to the infinitely superior likes of Margaret Atwood or Angela Carter. The book's episodic narrative and stream-of-conscious style fails to translate well into captivating cinema, which is a shame, considering the hard work done by the production designers and cinematographer in creating a wholly evocative world.
This brings us to problem three: Character and performances. Now, with a cast made up almost entirely of super-hunks it comes as no surprise to see that the IMDB rating system lists the film's primary viewers as women, aged 18 to 45. Now this may have resulted in a box-office hit, and I do respect Cruise and Pitt as 'serious' actors, however both men are way off form here. Cruise's effeminate pouting and constant swishing of hair gives him all the lure of a Loriel model as opposed to the suave, blood-sucking playboy he is supposed to be. Pitt similarly has little to do, other than act as window dressing. Even towards the films climax, when he essays the role of narrator he gives a performance as enthusiastic and spirited as Terry Kiser's in Weekend at Bernie's.
Support is made up of Christian Slater, Antonia Banderas, Jordan regular Stephen Rea and the wildly over-praised Kirsten Dunst. Slater is fair, although still trading off his Jack Nicholson impersonation, whist Banderas and Rea seriously struggle with accents... coming across as wildly over-the-top caricatures. Dunst isn't THAT bad, although she's largely one note, and we've seen much better debuts from child actors before and since... the fact that she's gone on to star in some of the most offensive, vacuous teen-fluff imaginable doesn't do any favours for her reputation as a serious thesp. Needless to say, this being Jordan, the film is absolutely stunning in terms of mood, atmosphere, production design and cinematography, whilst Eliot Goldenthall turns in yet another memorable score, in addition to his work the previous year on Alien 3.
I've always wanted to like this film... I've watched it many times in the hope that it will somehow get better, but it's becoming pretty obvious now that it won't. The overall problem is simply this; the film goes nowhere. It lacks bite [no pun!], offering us nothing new to the vampire cycle or the horror genre as a whole. The climactic crane shot, set to the Rolling Stone's rollicking classic Sympathy for the Devil is gutsy and endlessly impressive. Just a shame that this final display of balls-out, rock and roll angst fails to change the fact that Interview with the Vampire is a largely emasculated, and totally toothless affair. 2/3