My dear, I don't give a damn!

Rating: 6/10 (16 December 2001)

Starts out as an intellectual puzzle-thriller but all is explained in excruciating detail. That dumbs it way down because the explanation is funny but not interesting. It also goes all simple-moral at the end (spoiler!) but that doesn't work because Tom Cruise wears a rubber mask for about a fourth of the movie, a rubber disfiguring prosthesis for another fourth and a huge smirk the rest of the time. Lots of energy, but any character development takes place behind the latex where we can't see it. Cameron Diaz does the best work - her huge smirk is quite scary. Penelope Cruz, the Good Woman, is perky rather than manic, sweet but not demanding, and not at all threatening (yawn). The cinematography is flashy and fun. I haven't see the Spanish original but the director, Amenabar, has two pictures playing: The Others and The Devil's Backbone. They both have what Vanilla Sky lacks: feeling.