Vanilla Sky

Rating: 2/10 (23 February 2009)

This is a remake of a Spanish thriller film called Open Your Eyes (quoted in the film), from director Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire), I think I'd prefer the original to this. Basically, in what looks like a not-too-distant future, David Aames (Tom Cruise, also producing) has inherited a playboy lifestyle from his dead parents, and at a party he meets the girl his friend Brian Shelby (My Name Is Earl's Jason Lee) brought, Sofia Serrano (Razzie nominated Penélope Cruz), and he instantly falls for her. He wants to find out more about Sofia, but he is being stalked almost by jilted lover Julie Gianni (Golden Globe nominated Cameron Diaz), and she ends up crashing her car off a bridge, with David inside. While Julie died, David survived and had his face reconstructed, and not long after, he is finding it hard to distinguish between his dreams and reality. He is desperate to be with Julie, but being in an unstable condition, he is first trying to get back to reality, with the help of psychiatrist McCabe (Kurt Russell). In a ridiculous twist ending, you find out he has been dreaming for ages, because he is in fact dead, but he still has the chance to decide whether to go into a dream where he can have anything he wants and be happy, never ageing, or go back to reality and have a normal life, and thank goodness, he chooses reality. Also starring Noah Taylor as Edmund Ventura, Timothy Spall as Thomas Tipp, Tilda Swinton as Rebecca Dearborn, Alicia Witt as Libby, Johnny Galecki as Peter Brown, Conan O'Brien, and look for Steven Spielberg as a Party Guest. This film is one of the most confusing and ridiculous I have ever seen in my life, and I hope I never do again. All the actors are wasting their talents, the story is filled with material you cannot understand - in terms of story and putting on screen, and it just seems like director Crowe wasn't putting enough effort into making a good a film, which I can safely say it isn't. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Song for Paul McCartney's title song, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Original Song. Tom Cruise was number 32 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars, he was number 25 on The 100 Greatest Sex Symbols, and he was number 81 on The 100 Greatest Pop Culture Icons. Pretty poor!