It's stunning how someone with Helen Mirren and Joseph Gordon-Levitt can crank out such an awful picture. Even more stunning, when you add in the presence of Macy Gray, Cuba Gooding Jr., and the occasionally brilliant Dorff. But somehow, Daniels manages to direct everyone right into a swirling vortex of overacting and ludicrously manipulative story lines.Nobody survives this perfect storm, except perhaps Mo'nique, whose turn as a crack-addicted nurse is the sole good performance in the film.
The film also features some of the worst, most predictably bad writing that I have ever witnessed. Plot points don't connect, characters change motivations in mid-performance, and not a single actor is given a role with any significant depth to it. Even the characters that are obviously intended to be complex (i.e. Mirren's and Gooding's) end up flat and caricatured. Why did any of these actors agree to star in such a horrifyingly awful film?
Quite simply, this movie is a mess. Not a hot mess, just a mess. Give it a miss.
The film also features some of the worst, most predictably bad writing that I have ever witnessed. Plot points don't connect, characters change motivations in mid-performance, and not a single actor is given a role with any significant depth to it. Even the characters that are obviously intended to be complex (i.e. Mirren's and Gooding's) end up flat and caricatured. Why did any of these actors agree to star in such a horrifyingly awful film?
Quite simply, this movie is a mess. Not a hot mess, just a mess. Give it a miss.