Cameron Crowe follows up his most "personal" work, the semi-autobiographical Almost Famous, with the umpteenth Hollywood remake of an art-house import, Alejandro Amenábar's science-fiction brain-twister, Open Your Eyes. The most personal ingredient here, aside from the selection of oldies on the soundtrack, appears to be the latex mask worn by the intermittently disfigured Tom Cruise, looking in it uncannily like the horse-faced writer-director: a rather literal enactment of a storyteller's desire to live vicariously through his glamorous, gorgeous, girl-getting hero. (The star and director had worked together before on Jerry Maguire.) Still and always a crowd-pleaser above all, Crowe is at some pains to elucidate the obscurities: the commentative and mood-setting pop songs; illustrative cutaways to help explain and emphasize; continual repetition to allow slowpokes to keep pace; much overacting. (How does Penelope Cruz, reprising her role from the Spanish original, feel about her first kiss from Tom? Perhaps there's a clue in her bouncing up and down on the couch after his departure, her squealing like a teenager at a Beatles concert, her running-in-place at sprint speed.) At bottom -- and at the root of Hollywood's ongoing plunder of European cinema -- this is for people who need Tom Cruise and no subtitles in order to sit through a foreign film. Cameron Diaz, Jason Lee, Kurt Russell. (2001) — Duncan Shepherd
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I've never understood the hostility toward this movie. For movies rooted in both lucid and unconscious dream therapy, it's FAR better than What Dreams May Come, the Matrix trilogy, Total Recall, Brainstorm, and the like.
I'm particularly fond of how classic record album covers are subtly recreated in various shots throughout the film, some very subtle indeed, like Cruise and Cruz walking arm in arm in a shot straight off a Bob Dylan record.
A second viewing is almost demanded, as the final twists continue provoke thought long after the movie wraps up. In this, it's akin to flicks like Memento, Donnie Darko, Videodrome, and the Sixth Sense --- it gets under your skin and keeps you tossing around bits and pieces of it in your brain, ironically/appropriately just as you're trying to get to sleep that night -----
It's because it was horribly miscast, Jay. It was way over the heads of most Tom Cruise fans. Lots of people did not like "Magnolia" either. I thought he was fabulous in that movie.
That's a shame, if Cruise fans can only accept him in certain roles, when he's clearly capable of far more - for instance the scene just after his drunken breakdown, when he finds himself literally lying in the gutter, as Cruz suddenly appears and, smiling gently, helps him to his feet. His face is awash at first with renewed rage, then confusion, then disbelief ("can this possibly be real?") and then, gradually, almost reluctantly, he slides into acceptance and, eventually, abject relief and exhaustion. You can see all traces of fear, anger, and doubts dropping away as he clings to her arm like a drowning man to a lifesaver ----
I thought the soundtrack was fabulous too, in the way certain songs were deliberately playing a direct role in the disjointed and fluid memories Cruise was trying to make sense of. Unexpected but utterly perfect choices, like the Monkees' trippy "Porpoise Song" suddenly swelling in the midst of a violent/erotic/hallucinogenic/WTF IS it interlude....
the movie reviews the readers write on this site are PAINFUL and AWKWARD to read. can you please stop trying to sound like "a professional" and just write what you think. "his face is awash at first"? "I'm particularly fond of how classic record album covers are subtly recreated in various shots throughout the film, some very subtle indeed, like Cruise and Cruz walking arm in arm in a shot straight off a Bob Dylan record." ...yes, thats just INCREDIBLE film making.
Where the hell are Duncans star ratings?????
The folks behind high-traffic sites like Internet Movie Database and Rotten Tomatoes might argue with your disdain for user generated movie reviews, given their millions of website visitors who enjoy what their peers write about the movies. For my part, having been a Reader staff writer & cartoonist for over 15 years now (including countless reviews of albums, movies, TV shows, concerts, clubs, rehearsal studios, etc.), I hope most readers find at least some merit within my occasional comment posts.
I endeavor to remark on points NOT covered by Mr. Shepherd or previous posts, and I always enjoy it when further commentary arrives from other likeminded cinemaniacs --- if you don’t find this read-worthy, then why not just skip ‘em, instead of peeing in our pool --