BEFORE: See, I told you I'd get back to serial killers, which I now find only slightly less creepy than angels. Both will hide in your room and spy on you, but at least you know what to expect from killers after that. Meg Ryan carries over from "City of Angels".
THE PLOT: New York writing professor Frannie Avery has an affair with a police detective who is investigating the murder of a beautiful young woman in her neighborhood.
AFTER: This was the film released in 2003 where America's Sweetheart Meg Ryan appeared in a very shocking way - with brown hair. Seriously, a lot of people probably rented this just for the nude scenes, and I'll admit I've seen them, but it's time for me to watch the whole movie, not just those parts.
The mood here seems reminiscent of "Jacob's Ladder", not just because it shows NYC at night as a dangerous place, but also because events seem to happen more or less at random - which for a straight narrative presents something of a problem. I need to see a sequence of events that is (more or less) logical for me to believe in the story that's presented to me. I also need to have some believable dialogue, which this film has very little of. Over and over, I kept thinking, people just don't TALK that way, do they? Like if a woman's sister wants to thank her for letting her sleep over, she'd probably say, "Hey, thanks for letting me crash at your place" and not "Thanks for sharing your bed."
Next problem - believable actions. I had a hard time believing a lot of the things people did in this film, starting with the fact that the NYPD detectives seem to treat murder cases like their own personal dating services. Is it OK for a cop to date a possible witness? I'm guessing this is not cool until the case is closed. Does it happen in real life? I don't know - but showing a detective falling into bed with a witness after knowing her for what, 2 days, seems to do a disservice to police in general.
Now we come to our writing professor, who's doing research for a book about slang (this is iffy, every English teacher I've ever had would hate modern slang) and is obsessed with unusual words and the poetry excerpts they post on the subways (also suspect - the MTA's choices would probably seem to a teacher to be to poetry what Big Macs are to real hamburgers) and she also hangs out with her half-sister, who lives above a strip club for some reason. There seems to be an attempt to make a well-rounded character by just placing a professor in some sleazy bars and clubs, and that's not enough.
I think what's worse is an attempt to create a strong female character (from a woman director, no less) who does nothing but wander around the city aimlessly, talk about men with her sister (failing the Bechdel test over and over) and once she becomes a sexual being (through voyeurism), she's nothing but submissive. She can't get rid of her creepy ex-boyfriend, she's attracted to the hard-nosed cop with the foul mouth, and even has inappropriate contact with one of her students. OK, I know there's a killer on the loose and this is a very traumatic time for her, but that's no reason to lose one's standards.
Worse yet, one of these men could be the killer - or none of them, that's always an option, though that would mean that all of these men are just creepy and/or horrible and/or sexually agressive for no other reason. I can't decide which gender is portrayed in a worse fashion here.
Also starring Mark Ruffalo (last seen in "Avengers: Age of Ultron"), Jennifer Jason Leigh (last seen in "The Machinist"), Nick Damici, Kevin Bacon (last seen in "R.I.P.D."), Sharrieff Pugh, Patrice O'Neal (last seen in "25th Hour"), Michael Nuccio.
RATING: 4 out of 10 line-up photos
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