Tob
15-11-2003, 12:17
As a drama I thought it was fairly watchable, Meg Ryan and Mark Ruffalo give fairly good performances and their relationship in the film was interesting. As a murder thriller, it was pathetic, nothing remotely new and the plot was similar to countless other films of the same genre. The ending was so signposted I saw it coming in record time. The non billing of a star name (ala Se7en - it is Kevin Bacon in this particular film) was so obviously a red herring to the true identity of the murderer, he was instantly ruled out despite being the nutty possesive ex boyfriend.. I expect many details from the book were lost the murderer's motives are never properly explained or fleshed out and it ends rather abruptly Plus points for me were the grim, dirty feel of New York, Campion's typically strong female characters and an interesting performance from Meg Ryan. Don't take your mum (the violence and sex verges on the pornographic but does just about stay in line with the tone of the film) and don't go expecting a genre defining murder thriller packed with fresh ideas.