Borrowed and Blue

Rating: 2/10 (20 February 2011)

I'm having a hard time trying to like this film. The photography is stunning, and the unorthodox narrative style actually does tell a story. The problems though seem to be everywhere else.
Let's start with the narrative as if it were told linearly. Would the movie have been as interesting? Definitely not. It's a story about a down-and-out actress in Hollywood who has her lover killed and then fantasizes/dreams about how it all could have turned out differently. People are actually using the words "human condition" and "universal" to apply to this story. But is hiring a hit man to murder someone part of the human condition? Oversimplifying? Not much.
Another problem I have with the film is it's point, or central theme. The vapidity of Hollywood seems to float to the surface, but not much else. I don't doubt the character of Diane (as played by Watts) experiences the shallowness of the industry. But that theme has been overdone in everything from "The Player" to "L.A. Confidential" to {pick just about any film ever set in Hollywood}.
So what does that leave? A film where Bob Newhart wakes up at the end and sees Susan Plechette next to him and says, "Honey, you wouldn't believe the dream I just had," and then kills himself.
Well, actually that would have been worth watching.