Is this supposed to be taken seriously?

Rating: 3/10 (17 February 2002)

I remember reading of Ann Rice's initial disappointment with the pending film version of her novel INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE. She was upset at Tom Cruise being cast as the flamboyant Lestat (Rice always envisioned Rutger Hauer in the part). She felt that Cruise would have been a better Louis and Brad Pitt, who played Louis, would have been better as Lestat. Upon seeing a preview screening, Rice changed her opinion, publicly apologized and gave the film her seal of approval. Not having read the novels in their entirety, I can only go by the excerpts that give the description of Lestat: Tall, slender, blond, face like an angel. Sounds like Brad Pitt to me. An early comic book adaptation had Louis drawn to resemble Tom Cruise (this was five years before the movie!). After seeing the movie, all I can say is that I agree more with Rice's first opinions and that Pitt should have been Lestat and Cruise should have been Louis.
As it is, Neil Jordan's take on INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE: THE VAMPIRE CHRONICLES plays like a bad take on Roman Polanski's FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS. Cruise, as Lestat, acts as if he should be chewing on the scenery rather than his victims' necks as he goes horribly over the top. Pitt, as Louis, seems to be of the opinion that since Cruise is in acting overdrive, he should be in very low key and is almost comatose. However, the big sin of the movie is that it isn't scary in the least. Cruise comes across more like the little kid in one of those really cheap Halloween costumes who jumps out of the closet and tries to scare you. Everything ends up looking so lifeless that it's as if real vampires may have invaded the production.
I did like the scene where Louis goes to a movie theatre to catch up on all of the sunrises that he has missed in his life via film clips from the silent classic SUNRISE to SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE. Christian Slater does an admirable job as the Interviewer, filling in for the late River Phoenix. While the movie as a whole disappointed me, I will say this: I said to myself that if what happened at the end of the movie would happen, it would end on a good note. Fortunately, Jordan got that part right . . . if nothing else.