Reviews & Ratings for
Powder Blue More at IMDbPro »

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64 out of 94 people found the following review useful:
Quite good, despite a few cheesy scenes., 10 May 2009

Author: kingofyou from Denmark

My rating: 7.6

It was better than expected. It definitely reminded me of "Crash" and especially "The air I breathe" with multiple story's, drama and the city atmosphere, it has a similar feel to it.

Despite a few REALLY cheesy scenes in the end, it really was entertaining all the way trough. The acting was good, most noticeable by the mesmerizing Jessica Biel and the always strong actor Forrest Whittaker.

Biel has a few nudes scenes in the movie which was done very tasteful and very sexy ! and if you didn't think much of her before, you most like will be in love after watching her dance :-). Too bad this is probably the only thing this movie will be known for, as it lacks serious promotion and probably will go straight to DVD.

Hope it will do good, just spread the word I guess.

It should find it's indie audience I'm sure.

47 out of 68 people found the following review useful:
Oh my..., 12 May 2009

Author: Lt. Vincent Hanna from Australia

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This film aims high. It seems determined to extract heart-wrenching, raw, profound human truth from each and every scene. Unfortunately, because so little of the characters' behaviour makes sense, and so much of the dialogue is so unbelievable, the result is a relentlessly overbearing mess - and very difficult to sit through.

Are we expected to believe that a person who wishes to die, but does not wish to commit suicide, would go about it as Mr Whitaker does? If we don't believe this (and how could we - I mean, thrusting a revolver into the hands of complete strangers - and not even murderous-looking ones at that - and begging to be shot dead) then how could we be expected to make any sort of emotional investment in his character's plight from that point on? (In any event, wouldn't prompting someone to shoot you amount to suicide anyway?)

For me, expecting an audience to believe a premise of this sort is pretty insulting. If a film maker can't put a little more thought into their character's behaviour, they do not deserve an audience's attention.

Similarly, are we expected to believe Ms Biel's interactions with Mr Liotta, given the circumstances of their meeting? The rapidfire progression from stalking, to friendliness, to "don't look at me!" was just baffling. By even the loosest standard of believability, her character just seemed unhinged (her flicking between extremes in her scene with the doctor, and the speed with which she absorbed her son's eventual fate, did not help in this regard either). If her behaviour was not intended to be realistic (i.e., if there was some exaggerated theatrical style in mind) then surely that style would need to be maintained throughout the movie in order for the whole to remain coherent. It wasn't.

Further audience insults include: lazy hints at complex or meaningful back stories (e.g., Mr Kristopherson's character, Mr Whitaker's wifely and priestly flashbacks, Ms Kudrow's scoundrel ex-husband and Qwerty's puppets); a completely unrealistic injured dog (which, after being hit by a car at speed, just lies there placidly and allows itself to be carried away by a stranger without so much as a whimper or snarl, despite remaining conscious throughout); and a guy's absurd attempt to slip past two huge doormen and make a slick getaway...in a clunky old freight elevator! - as though the doormen might not catch him!

Stilted dialogue? You bet! Just wait for the 'easy banter' between the two nurses on the way to the room where Ms Biel's tyke enters cardiac arrest. Then check out the same nurse when she later informs Ms Biel that the hospital bills have been paid. Yeeeesh.

This film seems to strain for the type of tone and effect achieved by Magnolia. But to make a film like that, you need to be Paul Thomas Anderson. This guy is not he. This guy is not even Paul W S Anderson. This guy is a bad-vibe merchant at best. A floater.

42 out of 63 people found the following review useful:
In need of a miracle..., 12 May 2009

Author: Masatoshi Ishizaki from Romania

I rented this movie although many people crucified this movie as being a Crash sequel or just a blurred copy of The Air I Breathe.. Being a great fan of the existential dramas, where destinies cross each other only to emphasize the true value of life and most important the heart mending result of doing something right, (even it is too late) i decided to watch this movie in hope of seeing something equally thrilling to Crash. In fact, Powder Blue has some similarities to Crash or The Air I Breathe, but director Tim Bui manages to underline the most important idea of human destiny: the miracle. Here we see the miracle of destiny that incorporates the miracle of love (Rose and Qwerty), the miracle of divine intervention and hope (Charlie and the trans gender prostitute) and the miracle of sacrifice. (Jack for his daughter Rose)

In conclusion this movie is not to be compared to Crash, even it is based on the same destinies-cross-each other-structure. And of course the soundtrack which is surprisingly good, with featured artists like Bliss or Imogen Heap.

I recommend this movie 8,5/10

29 out of 40 people found the following review useful:
Decent, if not underwhelming, 11 August 2009

Author: Heislegend from United States

Allow me to get one thing out of the way right now: if you are a straight male (or gay woman) between the ages of 18-50 you might as well consider this movie required viewing simply because of Jessica Biel's topless scenes. To be honest it's not the greatest thing since sliced bread and it's not really in a sexualized context, but just to say you saw it should be enough. A little juvenile? Sure...but there it is. I'm kidding of course (kind of) but really...not bad.

Basically what you have here feels kind of like a lame rip off of Crash. A lot of stories happening in the same time line that feel like they should intersect a lot more than they do. Without that intersection it feels like a lot of little pieces rather than a whole. I can't help but feel like some of these actors were slumming it, particularly Ray Liotta. Has there been a movie since Field Of Dreams where he didn't play either a dirt bag or a stand up guy with a shady past? Talk about typecasting. There also seems to be a waste of perfectly good Lisa Kudrow in the film. I guess I don't understand casting her in the movie at all for such a small part when I'm sure they could've found someone just as good for a lot less money.

One small technical annoyance...the film has a pronounced grain to it that I assume is supposed to give it a gritty feel. The problem is that the subject matter isn't as gritty as the production values, so it feels a bit over done. Aside from that it's not a bad movie, but not a good movie either. I would have liked it a lot more if the writers had tried to tie the stories together more. As I said before, the way it is feels more like a collection of pieces more than a whole film. I wouldn't pass it by, but I certainly wouldn't tell everyone I know to check it out. It is what it is...pretty mediocre.

40 out of 62 people found the following review useful:
A Disappointment, 8 June 2009

Author: Beren from United States

No doubt this movie had potential. The cast offers a handful of well-known actors, several of which are more than capable of good acting (Whitaker in particular is usually superb). Unfortunately, most of the well-known stars in this film only had bit parts. Kristofferson, Swayze and Kudrow each maybe have five lines of dialogue in the entire thing. There were several scenes in the movie, one in particular near the end, which simply had no business being in the film at all. Even worse, NONE of the characters' back stories were developed whatsoever, something which may have actually prevented the story from falling completely flat.

This film will obviously be compared to Crash and The Air I Breathe, as I've seen already in several other reviews. Just because a story is "gritty" and emotionally charged does not make it good or even entertaining. This film was plagued by the same issues as The Air I Breathe: mediocre writing, unnatural dialogue and virtually no character development. Crash was successful because it had character development, the story was poignant and somewhat believable, the film itself was artfully edited and the dialogue was well written and very well acted. As the audience, we need to be able to suspend our disbelief in order to accept a "strangers' lives intersecting" type of plot. I had no problem suspending disbelief in Crash. Not the case with Powder Blue.

Putting comparisons aside, was it the worst film I've ever seen? No. In fact, it was still considerably better than The Air I Breathe. The music and cinematography was actually above average. Liotta's character was disappointingly wooden (no surprise there). Whitaker probably did the best he could. Biel definitely offered a brave performance and appeared to really pour herself into her role, although seemed to lose momentum in the end. Bottom line: don't go into Powder Blue with too high expectations.

12 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
Not bad in spots, but the story and dialog never rang true for me., 21 July 2009
Author: TxMike from Houston, Tx, USA, Earth

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Of course this is the movie where much was made of the fact that Jessica Biel plays a stripper, Rose Johnny, and infamously did her very first nude scenes. I can now verify that all those magazines that formerly chose her as "most sexy" or something like that were right on.

But this movie wants us to take it seriously, it seems, but is written in a very whimsical style. Take Brit Eddie Redmayne, for example, who plays Qwerty Doolittle, a mortician who is faced with losing his business just after his father died. Qwerty? Does that sound familiar? Those are the 6 leftmost letters in the top line of the standard keyboard, just like the one I am typing on now. It is commonly referred to as the "qwerty" keyboard.

Take Forest Whitaker as Charlie. He did something dumb while driving, his pretty new wife died in the crash, and now he has taken all of his savings, $50,000, and is going from person to person, to find someone who will kill him and receive the money in exchange. Why? Maybe because his religious beliefs do not allow him to kill himself?

I like Ray Liotta who plays distraught Jack Doheny, seemingly without much time to live, just off a prison stint. He is looking up his daughter and grandson who don't even know about him. But he is one continuous sad sack in this movie.

Then, at the end the editing is done to make the movie seem very clever, as we see some people dying, some achieving redemption.

Not a particularly good movie, with choppy dialog and some over-acting, but it was nice seeing Jessica Biel the way our Creator intended for her to be seen.

46 out of 82 people found the following review useful:
Excellent, 10 May 2009

Author: bdasstv from United Kingdom

I guess that there are no comments in this section because people are speechless after watching the movie. The clichéd label of a film where worlds collide, doesn't do it justice. Anyone who has ever felt the emotional pain of having it all and then seemingly having nothing will understand the message behind this tale. Also the raw emotions that are born through loneliness and suffering. Above all of this there seems to be an underlying message of the goodness of human nature and the fact that the world keeps on turning no matter what. Needless to say i really liked it and thought the acting was second to none. The most touching movie I have seen in a long time.

20 out of 31 people found the following review useful:
Powder and Glue, 26 August 2009
Author: Chrysanthepop from Fraggle Rock

'Powder Blue' tries hard to be effective but for the most part it falls flat. The film is about four isolated lives which at some point during the movie, connect with one another. Yet, the stories are half-baked and theatrical and the characters actions hardly make sense. Moreover they're loaded with cheesy dialogues that are poorly delivered. The characters beg the viewer's sympathy but I found myself caring less for what happens to them. 'Powder Blue' tries to be like 'Magnolia' and it grossly fails to reach anywhere near the superiority of that movie. Forest Whitaker appears too whiny. His best scenes are those with Kudrow. Ray Liotta perhaps has the best role and he does a fine job here. Jessica Biel has her moments of good acting and abysmal acting but she proves to be a very good dancer. Eddie Redmayne looks confused most of the time. There are small appearances by Lisa Kudrow, Kris Kristopherson, Riki Lindhome, and Patrick Swayze but their characters lack development. Swayze is barely recognizable and he successfully provides comic relief. Lisa Kudrow delivers the most natural performance as she stands out in a small role (in my opinion, a role too small to do justice to her immense talent). I liked how the film was executed, mostly under a cold colour tone reflecting the gloominess of the atmosphere and the cold Christmas weather. The use of digital camera also gives the film a raw look that adds to the scenes. 'Powder Blue' is not among the worst films but it seriously needed rewriting because now it is almost very much a half-baked and insipid soap opera

11 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Overly heartfelt has a great cast but has too much "suds" to completely work, 28 May 2009

Author: dbborroughs from Glen Cove, New York

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Four desperate people drift together over Christmas. One a stripper with a little boy in a coma, another is an ex-con looks for salvation, a mortuary worker faces foreclosure on his business and an ex-priest looks looks for some one to do a job for him. Well made and very well acted tale has plot lines that are so over done that they border on silly. Talk about stacking the deck, these people have enough going on for five years of soap operas. The cast almost sells the (overly) heart felt emotion, but its just too much.How much of this would really happen to four people over a couple of days? My interest began to wander about a half an hour in because I felt that the film was manipulating things for no really good reason. I understand why the cast was drawn to the material since it allows them to dig in and chow down on the scenery. Its not a bad movie, its just an over done one. I'd wait for cable.

17 out of 27 people found the following review useful:
Crash Aftermath, 27 September 2009

Author: kenjha

This is the price we must pay for the success of "Crash" - atrocious copycat films. This film is slightly better than the similar "The Air I Breathe," but that's not saying much. Bui's script is pretentious and his direction is heavy-handed. He thinks he is creating an emotional powerhouse, but the development is so poor that it is hard to care about the characters. The plot line featuring Whitaker (who now specializes in these types of films) is ludicrous. What's most ludicrous is that Biel and Kudrow (not exactly ugly women) throw themselves at men who reject them. About the only reason for watching this turkey is Biel putting her considerable assets on display.

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