A contrary opinion

Rating: 4/10 (19 April 2004)

I like most of Quentin Tarantino's work, a lot. And this movie has a lot to recommend it, particularly interesting camerawork and photography. You don't see a whole lot done with overexposure and backlighting like you do in this film. The quirky, Mamet-esque at times, unusual dialogue is at times a bit much for me but I got it in the cartoony way in which I am sure it is intended. But I think some of the quirkiness of QT's films comes from Quentin himself, and this is a guy that is a bit too self involved for his own good much of the time (at least on the talk shows that I've seen). Ultimately, this movie suffers from that in some of the excrutiatingly slow, labored speech that is intended to be dramatic. Maybe this is in itself part of the cheese factor that this movie embodies, but between interesting bits, action, and comedy are vast boring wastelands of "Eyes Wide Shut" slow paced dialogues. Making so much of the dialogue in this pace simply isn't good art in my view, there is a whole palette that can be used.