Worst movie I've seen since "Breaking the Waves"

Rating: 3/10 (22 December 2003)

This is definitely the most banal piece of work I've seen in a long time. Although I wouldn't call "Breaking the Waves" banal, I mention it because that was the last movie I remember being so widely praised both by critics and public and totally leaving me cold. Well, if you liked "Breaking the Waves" -- another miserable study in desolation -- you'll probably like this one. Why anyone would find this movie interesting is beyond me. I found it completely bogus. Bill Murray's character was fascinating and I wanted to know more about him, but the young woman was a complete and utter empty bore. So a couple of lonely, depressed people in disappointing marriages find someone acceptable to spend a week with. Big whoop!! She didn't have anywhere near enough substance to make this real or interesting to me. And another thing: A big deal was made of Bob being married 25 years -- how many people have you heard of that are married 25 years and have two young kids? I could definitely have seen him married about 10 years to a much younger woman who was getting fed up with him and his lack of attention to his needy family, but after 25 years it's not about the kids anymore. But I guess it had to be "25 years" to be a HUGE contrast with Charlotte's measly two, as if that puts him in a position to pontificate. Hey, news flash kiddies: Marriage is HARD and often depressing. DUH. And a guy of 50 isn't having a midlife crisis, by the way; he's way past that particular milestone. Calling it that just puts the cherry on this huge, pretentious piece of McBanality. Oh, and what did he whisper to her in the last scene? Who cares already?! It seems the relationship between the two was the main event for admirers of this film, but for me that was what destroyed it. It should have been Bill Murray's movie, a study of his state of mind, and Charlotte should have been, like the bar singer, only a supporting role, one of the ways he attempted to assuage his pain. 3/10