Liked him, but not the film

Rating: Null/10 (12 January 2002)

I am a very big Tom Cruise fan. It's ironic, because I haven't liked his last three movies, including `Vanilla Sky', but I go anyway, because I like to watch him. I find him fascinating.
And this film is perfect for the voyeuse (female peeping Tom). He's in every scene - and you get to see him undressed from the hips up rather frequently. It was quite a contrast with `Jerry Maguire', where he looked skinny and his shoulders looked droopy. Here you can see his six pack ripple when he sits up in bed, and his arms and shoulders bulge while he does a dastardly deed.
There is also a GREAT love scene with Penelope Cruz. Of course, the love went weird, like the whole picture, but for a few minutes it was beautiful.
He has such an overwhelming screen persona. Seeing this movie was like going for a drink of water and finding myself drowning. Also, since he was never off screen, I could never go out to the toilet without missing him. It was a long film, so I ended up having to go twice. Drag! I suppose this means that I am going to have to see the movie again to get the parts I missed while I was out.
Some critics will tell you that this was a bad movie, because Tom acted badly. Don't believe it. His performance was flawless. He had to express such a range of emotions: exploitive lust, real love, moved to tears, madness, fear of heights (which we know after MI2 is something that he definitely does NOT suffer from) and so many different types of physical situations: confidently strutting his six pack, the deformed cripple, the deformed cripple getting drunk, the dastardly deed, getting psychotherapy, and much more. Tom did all of these things perfectly, seamlessly. You feel real horror with him when he looks at his scarred face. He was so convincing as the exploitive playboy that some of the critics thought that that was his own real personality, which is not confirmed by other sources at all.
Tom's great acting does not mean that this was a good or enjoyable movie. It was hopelessly weird - what we used to call an `art film.' Despite being re-made in New York, it is still definitely a European film. It would be interesting what critics abroad said about this movie.
The interesting thing about Tom having picked this weird film to do is that it was absolutely his decision and no one else's. It lets us try to psychoanalyze this otherwise intensely private person. Is he afraid of losing his looks? Is he afraid of losing his mind? Is he afraid of becoming violent? Has all his jet-setting and living with non-American women turned him into a non-American artist? Or does he have insights into the international market that the rest of us are missing? All very interesting for the hard core Tom Cruise fan.
What really burns me up was one critic saying Tom should resist doing scenes where he shouts and throws things, because he over-acts. There is absolutely nothing I like more than seeing Tom shout. He is so cute when he's angry. I almost suspect that people keep accusing him of being gay because they want to get one more chance to see him angry. I also like when Tom gets tears in his eyes. He does these things really well in this movie. I hope he never stops doing this stuff.
I just wish that Tom could do a movie that I could bring the kids to. They know that I'm a big Tom Cruise fan, but I can't take them because his movies are all PG-13 or R, and pretty upsetting to boot, and my kids aren't old enough for that -- and if there was ever a movie NOT to take your kids to, this is it. I'm sick of having to sneak off to his movies while the kids are in school. I gather he did one children's movie, `The Legend,' which was a flop. Now this is a man who has no hesitation to hang by his hands 2,000 feet above the ground, ride his motorcycle without a helmet, do stunts in his private plane, and race in a race car. However, one flop has apparently totally scared him off from ever trying a children's movie again. More interesting material for pop psychologists. You would think that now he's a father himself, he would have a different perspective on this sort of thing
So these are my suggestion for Tom's next movie: a) the movie should be for kids; b) if the movie is more than 90 minutes there should be some non-Tom scenes in the middle where I can take a bathroom break; c) Tom should shout and/or throw things at least once during the movie and he should get tears in his eyes at least once, too; d) if he feels a temptation toward weirdness, he should just go out and buy some weird socks or something (we almost never get to see his feet in movies.)