Very hard to like...

Rating: 5/10 (25 July 2007)

I think this film went overboard on authenticity with regard to culture of the 70's, right down to oppressive aspects of general thinking of that time and lack of openness. Had a really hard time liking any of the characters or caring what happened to them and there seemed to be a failed attempt to weave quirkiness into Gyllenhall's and Ruffalo's character that never really left the ground. (eg. animal crackers, etc.) Delivery was very flat and uninteresting, not to mention obvious mistakes/gaps in investigation that any ardent CSI viewer would pick up on in a flash. (ie. the guys aviation boots, shoe size. Relying on eye witness testimony over forensic evidence AND the complete lack of communication between departments while a killer is on a spree was hard to imagine.) Also, cutting this guy loose without a tail or someone following him blew me away. This film gave me a headache. Robert Downey junior seemed tied up and struggling in a sludgy environment and skillfully brought some creativity and life to the story without taking it over, which he could have done without thinking. He seemed to realize that to cross that line would really illustrate how flat things were with rest of the cast. Each player seemed tied to the lowest common denominator of delivery and feared rising above it for the sake of continuity.