Great idea, but too slow.

Rating: 6/10 (8 August 2000)

I truly wanted to love this movie, but in the end I just wanted it to be over. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change the channel if I saw it on t.v., but it's just not the kind of movie that you would want to watch over and over.
The cast is what caught my attention with this movie. Sir Anthony Hopkins is, by all rights, one of the best actors still performing. Claire Forlani is a beautiful actress that has a brilliant career ahead of her. And of course there is Brad Pitt who has put out a decent amount of credible work. Even with this kind of acting muscle behind it the movie wasn't the gripping story that it should have been.
Most of this comes from the fact that the movie has such a dark undertone to it. There isn't any real sense of joy at any point. Even the love scenes between Pitt and Forlani leave you feeling as though it was just a cold exchange between two people weary from the troubles of their lives. There just isn't any chemistry behind the two of them.
The story also tends to drag on. A little more editing should have gone into the movie to get it to move a bit better. At the end you feel as though you've watched a three part mini-series without commercials.
Watch this one on t.v. Don't spend any money on it.