Wed, Nov 05, 2003

: In the Cut

This film is getting notority for the wrong reasons. I really liked Meg Ryan playing somewhat against type: those sweet romantic comedy roles must be getting rather boring for her. Nice to see her branch out, and nice to see real acting in a thriller for a change. Unfortunately, the film doesn’t quite work. It’s main problem is that it sets itself up as something really special and in the end, it’s a routine serial killer mystery. The plot deals with a female English profession (Ryan) who meets a cop investigating a murder in her neighborhood. As the two hook up, she begins to suspect he’s the killer. But she keeps seeing him anyway, of course (otherwise we wouldn’t have much of a movie). It’s all fairly routine, but it’s muddled by dark portents and superfluous secondary characters. In the end everything’s too convoluted for such a simple resolution, and the twist ending is clearly visible about 30 minutes in. But I did like some of the nice direction touches, particularly the ice skating dream sequences: the horrific ending one is hilarious like something out of a Coen brother’s movie. It’s worth the price of admission alone. This one’s a good rental.

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