At the end of each year Hollywood usually throws some great flicks at us that are either commercial hits, or critical darlings that garner oscar buzz. This year I was eagerly awaiting the Winter 2001 films because this year in movies especially (...). I got to see a Viacom screening of "Vanilla Sky" last night in Manhattan. A movie that seemed to have a lot going for it, Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, the buzz about Tom and Penolope Cruz, the Director Cameron Crowe, and the films nifty trailer. Alas nothing worked as "Vanilla Sky" just (...). Ever sit in a theater and wonder where the hell the movie is going? Thats what I did countless times. Let me break down the plot for you, rich spoiled lothario (Cruise) is sleeping with some crazy model chick (Diaz) whom Cruise refers to as his (...) Buddy, he has a birthday party in which he meets the woman of his dreams. (...) Any how they meet make nicey nicey and jet off to Cruz's house for some introspective talk sessions, and witty banter laced with sexual tension. The 2 obviously like each other and have hit it off.
When Cruise leaves her apartment the next morning to go to work, psycho model chick (Diaz) is waiting outside the apartment building, obviously she was stalking him. Here's where the movie starts the (...). With a Fatal Attraction like stalker chick following you would you get in the car with her? No right? Well Mr. Mission Impossible does and does not have the success of Ethan Hunt, Diaz drives the car over a bridge on Riverside Drive in Manhattan killing herself and disfiguring Tom.
Whats the sexy guy to do now? His face is jakked up and will Cruz love him? This is just one of the stoylines in this convoluted tale. I think this movie tries too hard to fool the audience into believing something that ultimately makes no sense. Some girls after the screening were saying how they completely understood the film and whoever did not like the movie did not get it. Whats to understand though?
Here are things that made no sense:
Why did Tom Cruise get in to Psycho Models car?
Why didn't he punch her in the face when she started to speed and take control of the vehicle?
One more thing that made no sense, the whole ending. With some (...) new age propaganda that suggests some "Total Recall" like twist the movie just plummets and became truly unwatchable. (...) I was just sitting there waiting for the flick to get better, but with all this new age mumbojumbo thrown at you you end up feeling cheated and just wind up hating the movie.
The movie has a couple things going for it. The soundtrack is pretty good. The scenes of NYC are cool. No matter what Tom Cruise is a mega watt star, so he made the movie watchable. If it was another actor I would have probably fallen asleep. One more thing, you can see some definate sparks between Cruise and Cruz.
I have never seen the original version of this movie "Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes)" but some in attendance did and said the original is very different from this american version.
In closing guys, this movie is a waste of time. This weekend if you did not see "Oceans Eleven" last weekend go see it instead of this movie. And if you are in the mood for a true mind bending experience go rent "Memento" a far superior flick that makes better sense in the end than this hollywood hack job.
In spite of all the hype generated by the off-screen relationship between Cruise and Cruz, this film was very disappointing. I have not seen the Spanish version, but from the other reviews, it looks like they did a very bad job with the English version.The story line is [bad]. Tom Cruise plays David Ames, who has everything, including Cameron Diaz as a casual friend. He meets Penelope Cruz at one of his parties and immediately falls in love with her, much to the annoyance of Diaz, who actually thinks of him as more than a 'casual' friend. In her rage, Diaz crashes her car with Cruise in the passenger seat. Cruise is disfigured, (...) the rest of the story has lots of twists and turns that deal with how Cruise handles his disfigured life and how Cruz reacts to his disfigurement. This is as far as one can go without spoiling the suspense.
Cameron Diaz is the pick of the lot with her acting and Cruise is the worst. He is totally unconvincing both before and after the disfigurement and he just shouts a lot and is totally wrong if he thought that people will mistake that for good acting. Diaz gives an even performance and she is one of the actresses who can balance the good and the evil. Cruz does not have much acting to do, she makes the most of her pretty face. Kurt Russell does his best with his small role. The direction is loose and the supposedly surprising ending generates more of a relief that the film has ended rather than a surprise.
Cruise's chemistry with Cruz and Diaz is worse than his acting. Overall, this film is a must-miss.
