What the @#$%??????

Rating: Null/10 (22 July 2002)

(***Warning - this is one great big spoiler***)
"And then I woke up." When I was in grade school, that's how we used to end stories after we'd written ourselves into a corner. "Vanilla Sky" is two and a half hours of utter confusion leading up to just such a letdown. Tom Cruise relaxes his acting muscles, having been typecast as a vain, fickle playboy, and his supporting cast follow him through one bland, baffling, too-glitzy-to-be-surreal scene after another. Had I rented this instead of paying $9 admission, I would have given up after a half-hour and returned it. Unfortunately, my local movieplex has cracked down on cinema-switchers and has instituted a strict no-refunds policy, so I was stuck with it. The only part of this film to stir any emotion in me, other than confusion at the plot and anger at the ad industry for misrepresentation, was unintentional and very much relied upon having a theater full of moviegoers around me. I saw this film a couple of months after the September 11 terrorist attacks. At the ludicrous finale, as Tom Cruise teeters on a Manhattan rooftop, the twin towers of the World Trade Center are visible in the background. Whispers stirred the otherwise silent audience like wind through sea grass as each viewer noticed the fallen icons and made mention of them to their companions. Aside from this moment of cultural identification, I found myself wishing I'd stayed home.