disappearing Act...

Rating: 7/10 (6 September 2006)

Jessica Biehl is one of the most beautiful actresses working today. She has a fine healthy physique, long gorgeous blonde hair, medium sized pouty lips and seductive eyes that pull you in dry the manhood out of you. I didn't know what to expect from her in a period piece, I didn't know what to expect of this film. I had heard it was good, but you can never really trust reviews. But I can now lay my fears to rest. Both are good. Jessica Biehl shows her versatility as an actress while portraying the object of two man's separate desires one for love, the other for possession. Her performance is immediate and plausible. The film itself is good, not great. It presents a layered storyline setup as an illusionists magic trick. As the film moves along we are introduced to plot twists, character revelations, none of which are too surprising. But still confident and skillfully executed. Biehl and Nortons chemistry is so-so. But solo they both do quite well in the film. The love story isn't as involving as the film makers would like it to be. But the suspense is. The film is well done, shot beautifully with wonderful costumes and good performances. The direction is confident without being smarmy but isn't very inventive either. The films pacing is a bit long but never dull. In the end the film is a solid good effort for all involved but despite Jessica Biehl's surprisingly confident turn the film is like one of it's characters magic tricks. Plausible when your watching but ultimately it's nothing more than a disappearing act. A little more involvement on the character level would have made it much more memorable.