TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: notting hill 's trailer is awful : a laughless , schmaltzy montage .
the movie was desperately marketed to the anti - phantom menace crowd , the same lovelorn females who ignored the love letter .
and it apparently worked .
perhaps the presence of julia roberts - whose allure beyond those perfect teeth still escapes me - had a lot to do with notting hill 's opening weekend success , but the film 's staying power is based on word of mouth . allow me to spread some more good buzz for notting hill .
grant stars as william thacker , a travel - bookstore owner who works and resides in a tiny english district called notting hill .
into his shop one day wanders famous actress anna scott ( roberts ) .
a common thief , some spilled orange juice , and
some stilted conversation leads to their first , highly impetuous ( or is that improbable ? ) , kiss .
days later , william sneaks into her hotel suite under the guise of a magazine journalist , and so begins a passionate , albeit surreptitious , affair .
( aside : notting hill 's portrayal of press junkets is deadly accurate . )
only anna 's celebrity - or william 's lack thereof - threatens to drive a wedge between them .
richard curtis has tapped into fantasy we all have considered , and for at least its first half - hour the picture 's " beauty and the beast " -like scenario is ( romantic ) escapism of the highest order .
as with groundhog day or pleasantville , while watching the high - concept comedy notting hill one constantly imagines him / herself in the lead ; it 's william 's ordinaryness that entices the spoiled and bored anna .
curtis ( who previously penned four weddings and a funeral ) is also smart enough to know that the unlikely couple 's situation is not enough to fuel two hours ' worth of entertainment , so
some of notting hill 's finest moments revolve around william 's eccentric friends and family .
by now , dear reader , you 've probably heard a lot about rhys ifans ' performance as william 's imbecilic welsh flatmate .
yes , he 's a crowd pleaser , a walking sight gag , but his character is not nearly as involving as the wheelchair - bound ( and appropriately named ) bella ( mckee , the anguished waitress of naked ) or max ( tom mcinnerny ) , her lousy chef of a husband .
in the movie 's best sequence , william , anna , and company sit around bloated from max 's latest concoction and hold a contest : the last brownie on the table goes to the diner with the saddest life .
the scene ends only as a british writer would end it .
if anything , fantastic bits like these dull the main plot 's dramatic impact .
roberts and grant , especially , are appealing , but their relationship is convolutedly interrupted too many times ( four weddings ' suffered similar flaws ) , and william and anna ultimately only have one thing in common
: they 're lonely .
( worth noting in roberts ' and grant 's favour : the ubiquitous " i 'm just a girl , standing across from a boy , asking him to love her " episode is not nearly so syrupy as it appears in clips , and it features some of the best emoting either actor has ever done . )
notting hill is nonetheless enjoyable
; on the visual side of things , i especially appreciated michell 's playful changing - of - the - seasons number . if only ( and this is a surprisinly minor gripe ) he had lopped off the egregious epilogue ; for a story that thrives on what we bring to it , the filmmakers work too hard to tidy things up , leaving our imaginations in the lurch .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: what makes reindeer games even more disappointing than just a predictable , lifeless action flick is the cast and crew who signed onto the project .
most of the people involved in reindeer games just came off terrible slumps with excellent comeback performances in their most recent films .
john frankenheimer , who made the unforgettable cold war drama the manchurian candidate way back in the early 60 's , recently showed critics and fans alike that he still had some magic left in his directorial skills when he created the brilliant car chase scenes in ronin .
screenwriter ehren kruger gave a remarkable first impression when he wrote the script for the underrated arlington rd .
ben affleck displayed his comedic talents in dogma and boiler room , and even on saturday night live directly after the horrible forces of nature and 200 cigarettes .
even charlize theron , who i was convinced could n't act , did a decent job in cider house rules .
when all of these bright stars come together , one would assume that the movie will have great potential to be entertaining .
after coming out of the theater showing reindeer games , disbelief was my first reaction ?
then frustration .
the movie could have premiered on cinemax at two in the morning starring an all - rookie cast and still would have been equally lacking in entertaining .
the acting is so pitiful and the script so dull
, i may have to rethink some of my opinions on how talented these actors actually are .
it seemed like everyone was restricted to just the script and not given a fair amount of improvisational rights .
we have all seen ben affleck have some fun on the set , it is so apparent in a number of scenes in good will hunting when he exchanges jokes with his friends at a bar .
the actors in that movie were having fun and , from that , the audience had fun .
reindeer games is the complete opposite ; the actors do n't seem to want to be their characters ( even danny trejo , who will do practically anything , does n't look like he is enjoying himself ) , causing the audience to quickly lose interest .
evidence of public disapproval was noted when a woman behind me yelled " boy this movie is horrible ! " and when there were scattered giggles during the most dramatic moments .
the story follows a man , rudy ( ben affleck ) , who is leaving prison in a few days along with his best friend and cellmate nick ( james frain ) .
nick has been exchanging love letters with a beautiful woman , ashley ( charlize theron ) , and can not wait to leave prison and meet her in person .
when nick is killed in a prison riot , rudy decides to pretend to be nick and take ashley out on a date for the christmas holidays .
unfortunately ashley 's brother , gabriel ( gary sinise ) interferes with their relationship .
thinking rudy is nick , he kidnaps rudy and threatens to kill him unless he helps rob a casino , which nick use to work at as a security guard .
now rudy must pretend to be nick so he can protect ashley from her brother gabriel .
confused ?
the movie only gets more complex as it goes on , until it gets way , way too complex at its climax .
but reindeer games makes its first serious mistake during the first half an hour .
the hero commits a greedy , selfish act when he decides to pretend he is his dead cellmate in order to date ashley .
some hero .
the point of a hero is to do the morally correct thing , a person for the audience to relate to or admire .
when rudy lies and cheats his way into trouble , instead of gathering support from me for him to ultimately succeed in getting the bad guys , i felt more like he was getting what he deserved and even wanted to see him fail at times .
the most irritating part of the film
( besides the fact that this is a christmas movie released in february ) is the number of chances the bad guys get to kill rudy but fail or delay for some idiotic reason .
the routine in which the bad guy must explain his genius plan to the hero before attempting to kill him with some elaborate machine is getting so tired
nowadays , especially when i eagerly want to see the hero dead .
the only saving grace keeping this movie from receiving zero stars is an amusing but pointless cameo from isaac hayes as a prisoner upset with his food .
why he was in this movie for such a pointless role
beats me .
why any of these people had anything at all to do with this movie
beats me .

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: the characters in " palmetto " collectively sweat enough to fill lake erie , and it 's just the right way to capture the film 's ripe atmosphere of sensuality , tension and even farce .
this humid florida - set thriller nurtures a modestly absurd edginess that often winks at itself , which is very much a good thing since the actors and director are in on the joke . as far as set - up is concerned , the movie is nothing we have n't seen before , but be patient -- " palmetto " spins some pretty wicked story twists that we really do n't see coming .
it 's not a classic by any means , but it sure is quite an engaging surprise .
harry barber ( woody harrelson ) is fresh out of prison , where he 's served a couple of years for a crime he did n't commit .
even though he harbors animosity towards the obtuse local officials , harry 's first order of business is to return to his home town of palmetto to be with his sculptor girlfriend nina ( gina gershon ) .
while searching for work , he catches the eye of rhea malroux ( elisabeth shue ) , the mysterious sexbomb wife of a palmetto millionaire .
rhea proposes a scheme that 'll get harry $ 50 , 000 easy -- to play a small part in the staged kidnaping of her jailbait stepdaughter odette ( chloe sevigny ) .
"
you do like risks , do n't you , mr .
barber ?
" rhea alluringly coos .
boys , form a line behind me .
part of " palmetto " 's success can be attributed to the performance of elisabeth shue , who demonstrates here that her oscar - nominated turn in " leaving las vegas " might merely be foreshadowing great things to come .
shue 's a seductive , campy delight , and pulls off a barbara stanwyck - gloria swanson combo with admirable relish .
the other actors form a solid ensemble around her , including sevigny ( " kids " ) , tantalizingly slutty as a teen tease , as well as the ever - likeable gershon , cast a far cry from her extreme roles in " bound " and " showgirls .
" harrelson is still doing fine follow - up work to " the people vs .
larry flynt .
"
" palmetto " does have its share of grievances .
harrelson 's narration is needless , i suppose , and gershon 's nina cries to be meatier than she ultimately is .
one of the plot 's unexpected angles -- that harry is asked by the police to become the press liaison for the very crime in which he 's involved -- could have been played a little better .
there are moments when you question the tone , but it 's never so unstable that it deserves the reproach it 's been receiving from most other critics .
if " palmetto " did n't want to be laughed at , would it really have tacked on a climax that plays like a live - action " who framed roger rabbit " ?
although a few elements can be questioned , the movie works well on its own terms .
thanks to a juicy cast -- especially shue -- and the nifty material approach from director volker schlondorff ( you remember him from last summer 's suddenly re - popular " the tin drum , " right ? )
, everything runs smoothly .
and for fans of revelation - heavy endings , this film 's got a few shocks in store that i wo n't even dream of revealing .
" palmetto " is a generous amount of fun to watch , and that 's all you need to know .

SOLUTION:
P