Slight disappointment

Rating: 7/10 (25 March 2007)

Pretty slight and sometimes awkward comedy/drama, propelled only by a great cast and interesting visuals. It's not laugh-out-loud funny, which is fine, but it's not even clever or witty for much of it, and many times the joke attempts just fall flat. The drama portions are heavy-handed and melodramatic, and the romance feels rushed and, as a result, becomes unbelievable. The acting is terrific, though - Will Ferrell is great playing against type, Dustin Hoffman is quietly funny, and Emma Thompson and Queen Latifah are both solid. But Maggie Gyllenhaal steals the show, coming across as both funny and sad. I liked the writing and diagrams on screen to represent Crick's thought process, and the look of the film is adequately quirky, but the story just leads up to nothing. Somewhat disappointing.