Hey folks, Harry here. This really sounds like a boring trip in a movie theater. Here's the review...
Tonight was a privilege; nay an honor for me. I was one of the lucky few who had the opportunity to see a preview screening of Unfaithful, and as a result, I am forever changed. No longer will I remain accepting of mediocre cinema because I have just seen one of the most compelling, provocative and thought provoking pieces of film in recent memory.
Nah…I’m kidding! I did see Unfaithful tonight, but that is where the honesty ended.
Even though it was released on 1987, I am still scarred by the consequences spelled out before me when I saw Fatal Attraction for the first time. Director Adrian Lyne revisits the theme in his newest feature starring Diane Lane as Connie Sumner, a MILF trapped in suburban hell outside the Big Apple. Feeling restless and unsatisfied without knowing it, Connie literally runs into the young, handsome, and French accented Paul (Oliver Martinez), a used book dealer, outside his huge SOHO! apartment. BTW, how many clichés can you count in this scene? (HINT: Falling into the arms of a perfect stranger\future lover; young Frenchman; spacious apartment in NY paid for with the buying and selling of used books) I digress. Soon the booty calls ensue and suspicion rises at home as Connie’s husband Edward (Richard Gere) begins to suspect something isn’t kosher. Here the film finds a fork in the road. On the right we have the sensitive exploration of a relationship falling apart (think When a Man Loves a Woman, Ordinary People or some other chick flick). To your left, the seamy side of betrayal and revenge (think Fatal Attraction, Slee! ping with the Enemy or The Burning Bed). Unfaithful decides to commit neither way. Sure, there is the relationship and the consequences of betrayed trust, but right as you find yourself surrendering to this milieu (cool word!), it is as if the filmmaker decided he was bored and goes the other way. As a result, neither theme is explored to any degree of satisfaction.
The thing is, everyone is really good in this. Diane Lane smolders and her expression of grief along with passion are a demonstration of her amazing range. Although I am not a Gere fan, he also turns in a superb performance full of faith and vulnerability. At one point, I was hoping he would spit out “I got nowhere else to go! I got nowhere else to go! I got no one else!” (If you don’t get that reference, call me. We need to talk.) Even Adrian Lyne does a good job of capturing the emotions and subtext of the relationships all while framing some masterful images. So what’s wrong? Unfaithful just doesn’t have anything to say. It isn’t as harsh or as poignant as Fatal Attraction, and as a result, it turns out to be a solid, slow two hours of nothing. Even in the end, which I won’t reveal, the film leaves the audience hanging like a teenager at a strip club without a dollar.
Upon leaving the theater, there was a guy who was asking what we thought. The guy behind me answered “It was free”, and in the end, that is an appropriate response.
But then again, what do I know?
- G
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