A poor central performance

Rating: 5/10 (22 July 2006)

Woody Allen at his worst I'm afraid. The main problem with this film is the unconvincing central performance of Jonathan Rhys Meyers - and you would have thought a director of Allen's stature could have coaxed a better performance than this. Scarlett Johansson and Emily Mortimer are good but wasted next to Meyers who seems to be trying to be the kind of Englishmen Americans imagine rather than going for any veracity.
The plot itself works in that disjointed way Hollywood deals with time and has some merit with the final scenes at least raisng the interest but the changes in tone make the film inconsistent - an odd mix of uptight stage play and supposed thriller.
If you want a dark treatment of relationships over time you would be much better off going for Closer.
Disappointing.