Bloated, incoherent, poorly edited and uh...pretentious

Rating: 1/10 (3 January 2002)

I am (or was) a fan of Cameron Crowe-just to get that out of the way. This was the WORST film of 2001. If you are looking for a 'mind bending' film that knows what it is doing, rent something like "BRAZIL." Vanilla Sky is a travesty in the worst of all senses. It is a pseudo art film, so disjointed, it is barely coherent. As for the idea of the film...interesting to a point-but remember that is only an idea. An idea should not carry an entire film-thus I can spew out words such as: gimmicky and pretentious. As for the pop culture references, does the word subtly mean anything? What was the point Cameron Crowe was trying to make? That we live in a world over run by products, or products over rule us or products over rule our main character. That nonsense was completely extraneous to the barely visible story. As for the ending...OH MY GOD!!! Here's an idea: lets make a film that is incomprehensible and pass it off as a thinking film. Nothing in this film has to though about-it doesn't cohere to anything. The ending sums up the entire barrage of sequences that make up 3/4 of the film. So what is there to think about? It is right there. This is just another way to treat idiotic audience members. Of course I have no problem with people liking even the most awful of movies, but when people can't decipher what is a masterpiece from just another movie, that is a problem. This picture was a master of manipulation. I don't think I will ever forget this film. It has a special place in my heart...and it is crushing the life out of me.