Pretty Good

Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

As Good As It Gets

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Love seems to be blinding in this tepid suspense film featuring the world weary presence of Charlotte Rampling and Gabriel Byrne operating with distracted lonely hearts. While they may have an excuse director Barnaby Southcombe has none as his smoke and mirror distractions to deny the stretched out obvious story line along with a poorly edited far fetched finale that smacks of modern day DW Griffith, the dating disastrous. .Anna Welles (Rampling) readies herself for another round of a singles get together. Divorced and in her 50s she meets George and goes back to his apartment with him. He's later found dead. Detective Bernie Reid (Byrne)runs into her the next day near the scene retrieving an umbrella and again at the dating session where she does not recall meeting him (Hmmmm?). Director Southcombe direction is ambitious but with weak material as it offers up a couple of drab alibis in a surly pair of marginals that are clearly a long shot as we begin to piece together the unstable psyche of Anna. Seasoned investigator Reid should clearly know better but remains clueless and goes rogue over a woman he only thinks he knows after a few meetings. In addition to the murder Southcombe makes a statement about aging and the demeaning speed dating game as well as make victim George a justifiable homicide. Another tragedy precedes as well to cloud matters but compelling as it is it adds little to the mystery and the fact Anna is one forgetful lady that might be forgiven for a lot of things.Rampling understated look and sound of indifference usually controls the mood of most of her films. Here she is wasted, her performance for the most part catatonic. Byrne's histrionics at the end wake up a dull performance best left sleeping, while Eddie Marsan's cop associate could use some sedation. Perhaps the film's finest moment and performance is the cameo of Honor Blackman as Joan putting on her game face in a ladies room and pointedly summing up the way it is.

Super slow start & middle and with predictable end. I only got through it because I was working on an art project whilst "watching/listening"... I can watch anything with Rampling, but this nearly disproved that theory. More than anything the film with its sluggish pace and obviousness of plot twists. The cop was like Peter Falk playing Columbo. It was comic how he seemed to be stumbling around. In fact, overall the photography was terrific. It was the script that made it the story cumbersome, self-indulgent and obvious. If only the camera didn't love Rampling's face so much, her expressive eyes... I would have stopped after 10 minutes.

Passably interesting drama concerning a woman, Anna (Charlotte Rampling), attempting to find another partner - she frequents singles gatherings - and a detective, Bernie (Gabriel Byrne), coming off a marriage separation, who pass each other at a ground-floor, elevator door of an apartment building in which a man has been battered to death overnight in one of the lodgings. Bernie finds an umbrella, in the elevator, which Anna forgot about as she walked away. Instead of returning the item, Bernie, later on, traces her car license, establishes her address and sets about meeting her again - at one of those singles gatherings. All this while he's investigating - actually, getting his number two, Kevin (the always-terrific Eddie Marsan), to carry the load - said gruesome murder. A sub-plot about a teenager needing money to pay back dealers muddies the waters, so to speak, implicating him as a suspect in the murder of the man - who happens to be his father; and who is, incidentally, a most unpleasant character.As the main plot unfolds, we see - in flashback - what Anna did at her previous singles thingy, the night before; which also begins to suggest she might be involved with the murder. But, how? Well, that's what Bernie frantically tries to find out. And which I'll leave you to enjoy at your leisure. The denouement, however, will give you pause to think about just how well you know - or ever can know - another person.Rampling always performs well in heavy dramas; in this, she does better than other roles she's had. Byrne, over the years, just seems to get parts that meld perfectly with his laid back - some might call it lazy - style of acting. Indeed, Bernie appears to be almost sleep-walking much of the time. The stand-out, though, in this offering is Eddie Marsan who, unfortunately, is not used enough; always a pleasure to watch his performance. The rest of the cast is uniformly good. As for the movie's director of this well-constructed movie, it's more than interesting to note that Barnaby Southcombe is actually Rampling's son. Nothing like keeping things in the family, I guess....If ten is top prize, this gets five.July 26, 2015.

I didn't like it at all, I kept unmoved and bored. And, after reading the fact that the film director was Rampling's son, I understood everything... Awfully bad directed. Not even an actor of the calibre of Mr Byrne can save this movie from being a bad version of a film noir. Sorry for Ms Rampling but even her was not convincing at all. I also spotted a scene at a beach where the sea was just a theatre set! That was really bad. There was a static view of the sea just behind the figure of Ms Rampling. I was so distracted by this fact that I had to rewind a little to see if I lost anything from the plot. Won't recommend it.