The trailer for Tony Gilroy's latest film gives off the sense of a light, frothy, fun film, with two stars in the middle of it all, supposedly bristling with chemistry. Indeed, it seems to be aspiring to a film like "Charade", but it feels a bit like "Ocean's 11" meets "Michael Clayton", Gilroy's biggest direction credit to date, and that latter part serves to suck quite a bit of the fun out of the film.
Gilroy's work in "Michael Clayton" showed a filmmaker of intelligence and potential, even if he did get overly wrapped up in a messy plot. However, here the intelligence is shown off to an absurd extent, demonstrating cleverness for its own sake and no real drive toward a plot which is too long and out of control. Furthermore, Gilroy seems to have some obsession with the pharmaceutical industry, which is not the most thrilling of area (although here he manages to get a laugh out of "Is it a cream or a lotion?"). It also gives rise to interminable bits of dialogue which are dreadfully difficult to follow, and parts which are simply dull. As a result, the film is difficult to break into.
Another reason for the fact that this film never really gets going is that the star pair have little, if any, chemistry. Julia Roberts is perfectly alright playing Julia Roberts, but Clive Owen does not work as a romantic lead at all. He is a somewhat humourless actor, which is brilliant when he is doing gritty films like "Children of Men", but thoroughly disappointing here. It's a shame that this is so, because the rest of the cast are brilliant. Paul Giamatti is outstanding, and Tom Wilkinson is underused, in a cast of many recognisable faces if not names.
That's not to say that this is a bad film, merely average and rather stale. There is a sense that a good fun film got lost here. Someone with the suave charm of a Clooney, or even Daniel Craig, might have held the key, along with a lot of cutting and tighter direction from Gilroy. And, for this kind of film, a mixture with a little more of the "Ocean's 11" and a little less of the "Michael Clayton" would have gone down a treat.
Gilroy's work in "Michael Clayton" showed a filmmaker of intelligence and potential, even if he did get overly wrapped up in a messy plot. However, here the intelligence is shown off to an absurd extent, demonstrating cleverness for its own sake and no real drive toward a plot which is too long and out of control. Furthermore, Gilroy seems to have some obsession with the pharmaceutical industry, which is not the most thrilling of area (although here he manages to get a laugh out of "Is it a cream or a lotion?"). It also gives rise to interminable bits of dialogue which are dreadfully difficult to follow, and parts which are simply dull. As a result, the film is difficult to break into.
Another reason for the fact that this film never really gets going is that the star pair have little, if any, chemistry. Julia Roberts is perfectly alright playing Julia Roberts, but Clive Owen does not work as a romantic lead at all. He is a somewhat humourless actor, which is brilliant when he is doing gritty films like "Children of Men", but thoroughly disappointing here. It's a shame that this is so, because the rest of the cast are brilliant. Paul Giamatti is outstanding, and Tom Wilkinson is underused, in a cast of many recognisable faces if not names.
That's not to say that this is a bad film, merely average and rather stale. There is a sense that a good fun film got lost here. Someone with the suave charm of a Clooney, or even Daniel Craig, might have held the key, along with a lot of cutting and tighter direction from Gilroy. And, for this kind of film, a mixture with a little more of the "Ocean's 11" and a little less of the "Michael Clayton" would have gone down a treat.