In the Cut (2004, DVD)

Aside from my first thoughts of, what the hell, or wait, who s doing what? and the more popular this isn t even a vampire film, why on earth am putting myself through this, I have nothing even remotely positive to say about this film. Yes, in truth those may not have been positive, but at least they weren t exactly mean-spirited. I don t know how long I can hold back so consider yourself warned.

The main premise of the film sounds like something that could work. A writer, Frannie (Meg Ryan), embarks on a voyage of self discovery and sexual awakening after meeting Detective Malloy (Mark Ruffalo), who is in her neighborhood investigating a recent murder or more aptly a woman who has been disarticulated (a fancy word used in lieu of the more common dismembered ).

Even though there are several things brought up that make us think that Detective Malloy isn t really who you think he is (could he be the killer, is he having a homosexual relationship with his partner, etc.) Frannie still decides to share her nekkidness, among other intimacies, with him. Listen up boys and girls, for anyone out there who has ever had fantasies about pretty little Meg Ryan, this is the film for you. Her performance here is one that will haunt me for years to come and that is both good and bad. On the one hand Ryan shows once and for all that she is an actress in the best sense of the word, she is not all sugar and spice, she can actually play a dark character and make you feel for her, make you care about what she needs, and she can do it all incredibly well. Unfortunately for me she was not enough to make this film hold my attention nor was she alone enough to make the rest of the film anything more than a muddled mess of a thriller that I had no interest in finding out who the killer was or even his/her motives.

Now go ahead and toss in the side story of Frannie s sister, Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh), stalking a married man whom she is infatuated with and the entire film takes on even less meaning than it began with. I ll admit that they set up the fact that every single character in this film is emotionally stunted (if not sexually confused). Are they insinuating that there are entire neighborhoods out there where these people live? Is it in the water? Do they have to disclose this when you buy a house in said neighborhood?

I don t doubt in the least that there will be people out there with much more patience than I who will be able to find true merit in this film. I, however, do not have the patience or the desire to watch Meg Ryan writhe around with Mark Ruffalo in an attempt to show me that men are predators and women, most often, are prey. Add to that the fact that when Campion does finally let the cat out of the bag and we learn who the killer is it is as if someone was standing before you slowly letting the air out of a balloon for absolutely no reason, not even sucking in the helium and making funny voices, just letting the balloon go flat. More so than simply falling flat you are left feeling let down. I mean c mon, that s it, really?

Oh well, I guess I could rewind it and watch nekkid Meg over and over again but then just how many times am I going to have to do that to feel as though I got my money s worth out of this film?