Less impact with each viewing

Rating: Null/10 (21 May 2002)

I want to love this movie, I really do. Perhaps it is itself like smack: it was exciting, new, different, fascinating when I first saw it, but became ever more hollow, inaccurate, gimmicky, and over-done with each successive viewing. I thought I would learn new things and see new things if I saw it again, but it just wasn't like that first time. Yes, as others have noted, the performances of Burstyn, Leto, Wayans and Connelly are good (Connelly is very good), but the story, taken in total, tells us nothing but a tale about the banality of media, particularly arty films. It is a beautiful film, with perhaps some of the greatest imagery shot in the last 20 years, that contains over-the-top stock characters. In one sense it is following a classic: Call it Moliere-with-cell phones. In another sense, it is shock video that gives away its secrets with the first shot. Beware any film that has viewers raving about how good the ending was.