the rabbi says 'brilliant'.

Rating: 10/10 (18 April 2006)

I was hesitant on seeing this after its poor box office opening. After a formulaic start, I began to yawn as I half expected a cross between snatch and the noirish 'payback'. Then Ms. Liu arrived and became the icing on the cake. Her quick witted vernacular made me squirm with delight as she, for the first time, did not try and steal the scenes. Her chemistry with Josh was incredible. My only disagreement with this film is its style...they tried doing too many ways of delivering scenes...slow motion, jumpcuts, grainy, etc. They should've kept it consistent, one style for the present tense, one for the story build-up and one for the flashbacks and extended scenes. And the tone...the first half was light and funny while the second half was moody and dark (i liked the second half more)...it almost felt like the shift in 'snatch' when brad pitt's trailer park was burned. It didn't quite sit well.
All in all, the performances were great and the film was more entertaining than the lot that's flooded our mutliplexes as of late.