SOME SPOILERS: Did anyone else see this damned thing this weekend? I knew it would be ... a disappointment ... but dear God, what a mess. I cannot believe that it cost 90 million. There's a lot to grouse about, but what the hell happens in the last half hour? The entire robot premise is sort of overlaid with a MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE-esque spin (well, I think), and we're not left with satire, or a remotely suspenseful or satisfying denouement to the womped-up plot.
It's startling that so much talent has produced such a flimsy whisp of nothing. Rudnek is a very funny man, who can write farce, and also render a straight forward story v. efficiently (watch his charming "In and Out" again, which I did Friday--it's sweet and real, too). And at least one idea -- the gay couple falling prey to the same spousal resentment syndrome -- is really fresh, if half-baked. It's hard to tell what happened to his handiwork here. Much was likely left on the cutting room floor, and they went back for atleast two sets of reshoots. No matter what says about the original, including its turgid pace and earnestness, it was well-crafted by William Goldman, and playing it straight at least allowed the plot to make sense and pay things off. Here there's no credible explanation for what happens in the script's ludicrous 3rd act. And the movie has no middle -- it simply lurches, uncomfortably, from the set up to the series of confrontations and endings.
Several people are badly served by this, most notably Midler, who could've had a field day with the old Prentiss role, but makes little impression after the first half hour, and Broderick, whose nerdy husband is an assexual black hole on the screen. What will this do for his film career? When he and Kidman reveal they haven't made love in a year, I thought "well, that makes sense.." He is creepy, but not because he's a sexist.
Yes, there are certainly many laughs, some uproarious. At first, it carries the movie. But it's Saturday Night Live skit humor. With no workable plot, it collapses on itself, and Kidman has to suddenly start acting her brains out as the victimized heroine -- as all the humor simply evaporates. There's something wrong with the film of this material if Glenn Close (doing a bit of Norma D in the final half hour)and Roger Bart (as another queen) have all the good material.
A sad debacle, all the more so considering who was involved.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
Updated On: 6/13/04 at 07:07 PM
I had no idea that happened. I wish ITAS would have been 2 hours instead of 1. :[
