easy listening for the eyes

Rating: 7/10 (23 July 2010)

For large chunks of time the film feels much like a another take on the central idea of "the butterfly effect" (which would be alternating reality) while briefly toying with both fairytale like elements and sci-fi redemption fantasies. Which is kinda annoying in retrospective because the film would not lose much of its appeal had that stuff been left out. It would have however kept the playing time at bay. But hey, you get rewarded for your patience for in the movie's final scenes there are some nice shots of decompiling Virtual Reality. Eye candy for sure but I like to think of them as a bow to the "tuning" scenes of the quite awesome "Dark City".
So in all due shortness what do you get for your money? Well, basically it's what the majority of explosion-free movies has to offer - but all in one. Of course the whole thing resolves around issues like relationships, destiny, contentment and what not. But since the structure of narration turns the film into a sequence of episodic scenes you won't find lingering shots of endless monologue. Instead prepare yourself for tiny appetizers for a marital drama, a teenage love story, a tale of an unfolding midlife crisis, etc. Somebody sure tried to eliminate every potential for boredom and it's hard to blame him/her for it, because it pretty much worked. Solid acting and reasonably tame humor are included.
Should you watch it? Probably yes - even if you had trouble following "Open your eyes/Vanilla Skies" for the final conclusion does not offer a change of perspective of any sort. This is ambiguous for it means if you hope to be given an explanation or a surprising twist you end up feeling betrayed. But on the other hand you are spared the task of remembering all the "WTF was that all about" moments from early on and reinterpret them. Permission to zoom out granted.
Should you watch it if you're a guy? Yeah, nope.