Peter H.M. Brooks
2007-08-07 18:42:29 UTC
I couldn't really avoid going to see this - not that it is that rare
for people to be my namesake. They should have called it 'Mr. Smith'
or 'Mr. Wong' and they'd have had a much bigger audience just for that
reason.
On the whole I enjoyed this film, it jogged along in a fairly
predictable fashion, but it was fun going along with it all. The most
remarkable thing about it was the actor Kevin Costner - I'd seen him
in a few films before and wondered why anybody hired him because he
was so utterly wooden. I truly didn't believe him capable of acting at
all. I wouldn't say he was brilliant in this film either, but,
amazingly, quite a few times he acted well enough that you didn't
think 'oh, it's that prat Costner', which made the film a lot more
enjoyable.
Also the actress Julia Roberts was less disturbing to look at. In the
past I've always wondered if she had a hare-lip or some other problem
with her mouth that distracted me from anything she said. With age her
lips have thinned down and, though she looks a bit gaunt, she doesn't
look abnormal, so that helped too. Her acting was fairly
underwhelming, but this is the first time I've had a chance to watch
her act.
The plot was OK, and I don't want to give anything away to anybody who
might want to watch it, but I wasn't sure what the imaginary friend
was supposed to be about. Was it supposed to be a schizophrenic
delusion - which wouldn't fit well with anything else? Was it supposed
to be some sort of spook - in which case, why didn't we have any
explanation of why there should be a spook about? Was it, rather,
supposed to be some sort of view of an old fashioned id/ego problem?
This confused matters further as I wasn't clear if there was some sort
of sub-plot in which psychopathy was supposed to be heritable -
because it wasn't clear if it was supposed to be psychopathy or
schizophrenia or something completely different.
I felt that whoever was responsible for plotting or giving expert
advice was hired very cheaply.
I suppose it is possible to have your own private cemetery. I wonder
why there isn't a bigger second hand market for them if they are so
handy.
for people to be my namesake. They should have called it 'Mr. Smith'
or 'Mr. Wong' and they'd have had a much bigger audience just for that
reason.
On the whole I enjoyed this film, it jogged along in a fairly
predictable fashion, but it was fun going along with it all. The most
remarkable thing about it was the actor Kevin Costner - I'd seen him
in a few films before and wondered why anybody hired him because he
was so utterly wooden. I truly didn't believe him capable of acting at
all. I wouldn't say he was brilliant in this film either, but,
amazingly, quite a few times he acted well enough that you didn't
think 'oh, it's that prat Costner', which made the film a lot more
enjoyable.
Also the actress Julia Roberts was less disturbing to look at. In the
past I've always wondered if she had a hare-lip or some other problem
with her mouth that distracted me from anything she said. With age her
lips have thinned down and, though she looks a bit gaunt, she doesn't
look abnormal, so that helped too. Her acting was fairly
underwhelming, but this is the first time I've had a chance to watch
her act.
The plot was OK, and I don't want to give anything away to anybody who
might want to watch it, but I wasn't sure what the imaginary friend
was supposed to be about. Was it supposed to be a schizophrenic
delusion - which wouldn't fit well with anything else? Was it supposed
to be some sort of spook - in which case, why didn't we have any
explanation of why there should be a spook about? Was it, rather,
supposed to be some sort of view of an old fashioned id/ego problem?
This confused matters further as I wasn't clear if there was some sort
of sub-plot in which psychopathy was supposed to be heritable -
because it wasn't clear if it was supposed to be psychopathy or
schizophrenia or something completely different.
I felt that whoever was responsible for plotting or giving expert
advice was hired very cheaply.
I suppose it is possible to have your own private cemetery. I wonder
why there isn't a bigger second hand market for them if they are so
handy.