*** out of ****

Rating: 7/10 (8 September 2002)

A good effort by Crowe, "Vanilla Sky" falls into the trap of trying too hard to be unique. While there isn't anything that hasn't been done in a psychological thriller before, it is a solid piece of entertainment. The cast is solid all around, and Cruise delivers an unusually good performance, if maybe a little over the top at times. It runs on a little too long, at nearly two and a half hours, but manages to remain interesting for most of the time. Solid effort but one that maybe thinks a little too much of itself.