Overrated

Rating: 6/10 (5 July 2005)

I finally saw this movie, after putting it off many times, and I am surprised at how disappointed I was. I certainly give the movie high marks for Dustin Hoffman's performance, and certainly Mike Nichols' direction was quite exceptional. But I expected more comedy, and I rarely laughed through the movie. I can appreciate that humor was being attempted in some of the scenes (i.e. the absurd situation where Ben is made to swim in full scuba gear for spectators in the backyard swimming pool), but the fact is, I just didn't laugh. I thought the plot was meager, the story not that interesting. The characters, as a whole, were just plain irritating. In a word, I thought the movie was boring. Sorry, maybe I just didn't get it.