Predictable and Precious

Rating: 4/10 (11 July 2004)

I admit I saw this film with prejudice.
I'm an enthusiastic fan of Spielberg, who I think has taken a bad rap from Hollywood snobbery, and Hanks, who I guess everyone loves. But this movie was quite bad in spite of the talent and my expectations could not overcome that.
The plot became totally predictable. Not remotely believable and at the same time not quite fairy tale enough for me to put that aside. Not quite a comedy not quite a drama. I did laugh out loud several times but in the end it was just so contrived and precious I could not enjoy it.

The writing was especially terrible. The interaction didn't work in too many places, and the chemistry between actors was missing.
The antagonist role was also just too stereotypically bad. Tucci is another favorite of mine, and while he played it as well as anyone could, it was just the same old thing in terms of mean bad guy.
The main love story came close, and then got lost in poor dialogue and bad character development choices. Be a comedy or be a drama. The tragic relationship problems of Zeta-Jones reminded me of a sitcom that decides to air "a very special episode." Also, I feel she was miscast here, someone older or just "cute" as opposed to stunning gorgeous would have worked better.
But most importantly--I was bored. Watching Hanks with no spoken dialogue for minutes on end in Castaway was more interesting than watching his character bumble through his lines in this. Love you Steven but comedy is tough; please don't give up!