Pretentious or brillant -- can't decide

Rating: Null/10 (17 December 2001)

Though I'm a huge fan of Cameron Crowe's and have generally respected what he's done in the past, I'm really torn on this one. On one hand, if you're a film fan -- and love Goddard and experimental film -- there's stuff here that you'll probably "get". Most of the acting here is really good, and I have to respect Crowe for taking risks, for trying to graft his populist, Frank Capra-style of filmmaking with a style that's much more post-modern. I appreciate Crowe tried to make an ambitious, challenging film that takes its cues from foreign cinema over Hollywood and I have to laud him for that.
On the other hand, the film has the same problem as "A.I.": a really lousy final act. I won't have been put off by the red herrings, visceral theatrics and plot sucker punches if it actually lead up to something a la "The Others" (which was a film made by the same guy who did "Open Your Eyes" -- the Spanish flick this movie is based off of). Alas, it doesn't.
(Mild spoiler ahead.)
What starts out as a nice thriller-drama gradually descends into SF territory, and it just lost me. Instead of going "Wow!", my reaction was one of "Huh?" And I consider myself to be a smart guy who's well versed in film theory, and can follow some pretty complicated plots. It's as though Crowe had a lot of things he wanted to say with this movie about technology, relationships, commitment, faith in God and living life to the fullest, but just couldn't pull everything together into any sort of coherancy.
I will say though that Vanilla Sky has me clamouring to see Open Your Eyes, simply because I'm curious to see how much of the plot was changed for American audiences. And I'd have to say Vanilla Sky certainly has me thinking, even if it's about what the hell the movie was all about. Crowe has fashioned an interesting experiment, but viewing it is akin to watching a scientist trying to graft a dog and a cat together. It may be fascinating to see, but why it's being done beats the hell out of me.
For that, I guess Vanilla Sky is "all frosting and no cake". If only Crowe had thought a bit more about how his was mixing all of his ingredients together before throwing the concoction into the oven, he might have had a masterpiece.