Walking out of the current (October 2004) revival of the Craig Lucas play I overheard a couple talking about the film version of the play and it suddenly came back to me why it all seemed familiar, I saw it on TV several years ago.
The story of how a woman who's husband can't take her any more and hires a hit man to kill her, only to send her away before he arrives is a very strange story. No one and nothing is who they seem to be. And the twists and turns seem rather random. The whole bit about visiting every Springfield in the country is just plain dumb. The dialog is clever at times but mostly it seems forced.
Worse is the fact that this probably should never have been made into a film. The play which is full of whimsey and is stylized does not translate into a film well. The actors are okay but many are completely wrong for the roles. The Goldwyn/Farrow coupling doesn't quite work so the story isn't believable from the get go.
If given the choice of play versus movie go for the play where the whimsey works better, however you would be better off renting or seeing pretty much anything else.
5 out of 10 for the bits that work.
Side Note: Mary Louise Parker who plays Pootie and a couple other members of the cast of this film are in the current Broadway production. Obviously they are gluttons for punishment
The story of how a woman who's husband can't take her any more and hires a hit man to kill her, only to send her away before he arrives is a very strange story. No one and nothing is who they seem to be. And the twists and turns seem rather random. The whole bit about visiting every Springfield in the country is just plain dumb. The dialog is clever at times but mostly it seems forced.
Worse is the fact that this probably should never have been made into a film. The play which is full of whimsey and is stylized does not translate into a film well. The actors are okay but many are completely wrong for the roles. The Goldwyn/Farrow coupling doesn't quite work so the story isn't believable from the get go.
If given the choice of play versus movie go for the play where the whimsey works better, however you would be better off renting or seeing pretty much anything else.
5 out of 10 for the bits that work.
Side Note: Mary Louise Parker who plays Pootie and a couple other members of the cast of this film are in the current Broadway production. Obviously they are gluttons for punishment