Surreally entertaining, but ultimately fails in its own objectives

Rating: Null/10 (13 December 2001)

An adaptation of Alejandro Amenábar's narcissist's nightmare "Abre los Ojos", it's like a cross between The Matrix, Total Recall, and Fatal Attraction, only this production takes the worst-common-denominator of the three. That they were good films with creative ideas and vivid characters is what keeps Vanilla Sky above water, but won't likely be appreciated by a more sophisticated audience.
While the ending does bring together all the unlinked and confusing elements, Vanilla Sky wants to be much more than a simple action-thriller. A love triangle, a deeper and more meaningful introspection on the "self" and its various psychological components, a philosophical bent... A lot could be done with this mixture of science fiction and psychological drama, but the movie ultimately fails to accomplish its own goals. If it's going to be about an ego-centric publishing heir who turns a new leaf, give us more of a basis for his motivations. Sophia's character wasn't strong enough for us to believe that she, alone, compelled him, especially since they knew each other only a day when his tragedy befell him. While Cameron Diaz did an excellent job at a femme fatale, her relationship to David was too unimportant to him to make the "love triangle" germane to the plot. It was hard to feel empathy for him. (Fear, yes, but that's two-dimensional; not the depth that the film could and should have achieved.)
To its credit, the film does succeed in providing a beautifully filmed series of scenes, with good-looking people and a climax that does pull together the loose ends and give the audience a sense of completion. To a less-discerning, younger-generation of movie-goers, this may be worth the price of admission. However, for me, the movie failed to meet its own potential, eroding my opinion of it to a tepid yawner.