To like or not to like?

Rating: 6/10 (29 January 2002)

Vanilla Sky reunites 'Jerry Maguire's director Cameron Crowe and star Tom Cruise. There is hype before the film's release because its making seemingly brought about the romance between the two main stars Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz.
Tom Cruise plays David, a rich and successful owner of a magazine publishing company who meets and falls for Sofia (Penelope Cruz), his best friend's guest at his party. He promptly dumps his 'f**k buddy', Julie Gianni (Cameron Diaz) who actually believes herself to be a real girlfriend and starts stalking him. A move which David must regret is when he gets into Julia's car with her, not realising that she is just a little annoyed at being discarded. The result is a horrific car accident which leaves him badly disfigured and experiencing events which he can't be sure are real or imaginary. Kurt Russell plays a psychologist who tries to help David figure out whether what he remembers are dreams or reality and it is mainly through David's interviews with his psychologist that the audience is presented with flashbacks of events.
Such is Cruise's superstar status that one feels he can take risks by accepting non-mainstream roles such as this -he spends a significant part of the film disfigured or wearing a latex mask. No doubt, many people who go and see this movie will be disappointed by this fact but nevertheless, you still get to see that winsome trademark grin and Cruise manages to evoke sympathy through his character's confusion and torment. Penelope Cruz is charming as Cruise's love interest and the chemistry between the two stars is evident on the screen.
Events after the car crash are extremely confusing but stick with it and you will be enlightened by an explanation towards the end of the film which has a tinge of science fiction about it. Although I was utterly confused, I was still intrigued and interested in the characters and what on earth was happening. 'Vanilla Sky' is certainly a thought provoking and memorable film but is also a film which I still can't decide whether I like or not. Thinking about it some more, I'm tending towards liking it. After all, I am a Tom Cruise fan and he proves once again here, that he's not just a pretty face.