An incredible film wide open for criticism.

Rating: 10/10 (15 December 2001)

All right, I'll get this right out of the way. I'm a Cameron Crowe fan, and consider myself lucky to claim as such. Also, I have never seen Abre Los Ojos. Those who feel this negates my right to defend this film need not read further. All I can tell those of you who may have seen this once and thought it was too out there is to give it another chance to prove itself. Trust me, my loyalty to Crowe aside, I was worried when I walked in to see this one. It was a total departure for the guy who made Say Anything..., Singles, Jerry Maguire, and Almost Famous (Untitled). Also, it was the first time he'd ever directed anything that wasn't wholly original. I was skeptical that so many critics could be wrong about this film, but the more I watched and got absorbed in the story, the more it worked. I gave this movie three stars out of four upon leaving the first time. After seeing it again for the second time tonight, I leave it at a solid three and a half. And the only reason I don't give it four is because it is not an original idea. Aside from that, it's a four star film. But here's the reason I'm writing. I didn't love this movie for the twist (and enough with saying HOW MANY twists there are because there's only really one if you're paying any kind of attention). The twists like this have been done before in different ways in The Matrix and Total Recall (to say nothing of its predecessor. So, in my opinion, to call this a brilliant film based on its narrative alone would at best be doing a disservice to its inspiration and at worst be an uninformed statement of someone fresh from seeing a new and interesting film. What I really loved about this movie was how true love was captured. And not, as Cruise AND Cruz have maintained, in the love scenes but in those little moments of perfection that Crowe delivers in spades. This is why I have loved Crowe since his first film and have stuck with him all of these years. Who could have possibly torn apart the world and stopped Lloyd from playing In Your Eyes in Say Anything? Or broken that perfect silence after Cliff says "bless you" at the end of Singles? Or prevented that tear from forming (even if it didn't drop) when Jerry Maguire says "you complete me" and you realize he's carried it with him all that time? Or not feel a shudder run through them when Penny is sitting in the plane at the end of Almost Famous and has that look of realization? Or taken their eyes off of David's face when he looked back at Sofia that one last time in Vanilla Sky? This is why I love this movie. Crowe has put enough love at the core of this movie to make my soul ache from it. And those who will put away their checklists of what makes a good movie good (a very subjective idea, I might add) and take this film in as the fluidity of feeling that I personally believe it was committed to the screen in the first place to convey will find something that transcends the confines of celluloid.