Way overhyped

Rating: Null/10 (4 January 2002)

So many critics raving about it. What a waste of time. Maybe it was my own expectations about how great it would be, based on so many positive, glowing reviews. But it left me flat.
My expectations: the flashbacks would reveal the true sinuous plot, the entire mystery, a mystery that would be enigmatic even if played forward. I thought it would cover the time from his wife's death until now. Some people said they needed to see it again to understand it.
What it was: flashbacks that cover just the last couple days, very obviously connected, neither confusing nor evocative. The real mystery is revealed in a clumsy last minute exposition spilled by Pantolino. The only interesting seconds, with some resonance of the frailty of human memory, were when Pearce misremembered his touch to his wife's thigh.

Pearce was rigid, Pantolino was adequate, Moss was brittle but okay. The whole movie is one boring gimmick. I feel no need to see it again to figure it all out; once was more than enough.