I wasn't quite sure what I thought of this film when I saw it a few months back on cable. It's one of those films that's lauded by the art house crowd (and I don't mean that to be dismissive of the art house crowd in general). It's not that bad (there are way worse movies), but it's not "all that" either. I read some of the reviews already posted, and some of them have put their finger on what it is that makes this a rather dry, un-insightful film - one person says that it lays out some momentous issues/behavior, then just falls flat without carrying them through, ie, there's no impact. That's certainly true in a number of areas of the film.
Kate Beckinsale's character is rather obvious. To me, she represented the typical Hollywood perspective of the dull, conservative, disciplined achiever now destined to be drawn to the wild side. And though she seems to truly love Sam, her coy, almost flirty follow up scene with 'rocker' Alessandro Nivola's character is mystifying to me (this is when they run into each other again on the street). Does she truly regret what she did? Or is she just ambivalent? Does she want to leave Sam for the rocker (sorry can't remember the name of the character at the moment). Maybe that's all up for interpretation, and left vague on purpose, but again it lessens the impact of that whole scenario. I thought she was being rather stupid, and I was actually annoyed with Beckinsale's performance.
One thing which has to be mentioned, which I've already read either on the message boards, or another review, is that for all the 'hard rocker' image of the band, and even Frances McDormand's character, the music is trite pop. It didn't go, and just seemed like the projection of someone not in tune with different genres of music.
The message at the end of the film is rather depressing. Sam, despite all his efforts to not become his parent, starts leaning towards that side. It seems to be an inevitable, insidious pull, this hedonism. Like the Dark Side of the Force. Except in this filmmaker's eyes, it's okay. Sam is portrayed as judgmental, disapproving of his mother, but I found the whole film rather judgmental and disapproving of not really Sam himself, but of what he represents - the opposite of hedonism, rocking out, etc. "Hey kick loose, take a swig of beer, and have a taboo sexual relation or two..." While they rock out, the conservative Harvard guy will be running the country. And I'm not saying this as an advocate of conservatives. I'm just making a very specific critique of this viewpoint, and it's downside. To be fair, I think Sam's mother doesn't have as disapproving of a tone, as the entire film seems to take, especially with the turn of events, and the ending with Sam being just flustered.
In the end, the film is a little trite for me, and rather depressing. None of the characters in the film have lives all that compelling. Maybe I was disappointed with Christian Bale and Kate Beckinsale's characters for not following their own drummers. In that type of atmosphere, they would have been the real rebels...
Of all the actors, Frances McDormand probably gave the best performance. Christian Bale is in yet another film that squanders his talent. Despite all the hype and his rabid fan-base, he has not been in that many great films. The man definitely is a great talent, though. Here, I found his performance a little forced. His accent was not southern Californian to me (I grew up in southern California, and live in West LA). Kate Beckinsale was alright, Allesandro Nivola was average, and Natascha McElhone was predictable.
Kate Beckinsale's character is rather obvious. To me, she represented the typical Hollywood perspective of the dull, conservative, disciplined achiever now destined to be drawn to the wild side. And though she seems to truly love Sam, her coy, almost flirty follow up scene with 'rocker' Alessandro Nivola's character is mystifying to me (this is when they run into each other again on the street). Does she truly regret what she did? Or is she just ambivalent? Does she want to leave Sam for the rocker (sorry can't remember the name of the character at the moment). Maybe that's all up for interpretation, and left vague on purpose, but again it lessens the impact of that whole scenario. I thought she was being rather stupid, and I was actually annoyed with Beckinsale's performance.
One thing which has to be mentioned, which I've already read either on the message boards, or another review, is that for all the 'hard rocker' image of the band, and even Frances McDormand's character, the music is trite pop. It didn't go, and just seemed like the projection of someone not in tune with different genres of music.
The message at the end of the film is rather depressing. Sam, despite all his efforts to not become his parent, starts leaning towards that side. It seems to be an inevitable, insidious pull, this hedonism. Like the Dark Side of the Force. Except in this filmmaker's eyes, it's okay. Sam is portrayed as judgmental, disapproving of his mother, but I found the whole film rather judgmental and disapproving of not really Sam himself, but of what he represents - the opposite of hedonism, rocking out, etc. "Hey kick loose, take a swig of beer, and have a taboo sexual relation or two..." While they rock out, the conservative Harvard guy will be running the country. And I'm not saying this as an advocate of conservatives. I'm just making a very specific critique of this viewpoint, and it's downside. To be fair, I think Sam's mother doesn't have as disapproving of a tone, as the entire film seems to take, especially with the turn of events, and the ending with Sam being just flustered.
In the end, the film is a little trite for me, and rather depressing. None of the characters in the film have lives all that compelling. Maybe I was disappointed with Christian Bale and Kate Beckinsale's characters for not following their own drummers. In that type of atmosphere, they would have been the real rebels...
Of all the actors, Frances McDormand probably gave the best performance. Christian Bale is in yet another film that squanders his talent. Despite all the hype and his rabid fan-base, he has not been in that many great films. The man definitely is a great talent, though. Here, I found his performance a little forced. His accent was not southern Californian to me (I grew up in southern California, and live in West LA). Kate Beckinsale was alright, Allesandro Nivola was average, and Natascha McElhone was predictable.
