Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Does coca cola really irritate your sinuses?, March 28, 2000
This film was much better than I expected. I was expecting some mediocre teen movie but this is stunning. A great simple story: a couple try to rip someone off to pay back a debt. What could be simpler? How about when everything goes wrong? Do not want to give anything away but this story had a great and unexpected twist. The build up is very convincing and even when you think the story is going down one alley, it doesn't.Reese Witherspoon and Alessandro Nivola are wonderful as the lovers trying to get out of Tropico: a dead end town and Josh Brolin does a convincing job as a hysterical up and coming yuppie who thinks he has committed the ultimate crime. There are plenty of magic elements: the economics-major thug professing Adam Smith as a justification for violence, Nivola's way of avoiding a TV advert giving the game away and the cause of the brushfire are just three. Watch this and enjoy the treat and if you see it on DVD see if you agree that the alternate ending is much better: positive but not as upbeat.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The ending alone makes the movie, July 15, 2002
Well, I think that thrillers often get a little overdone. Anyone who watches many movies will probably agree. I felt like this movie was one movie that stayed believable, yet still kept the audience enthralled in the storyline. This movie started off kind of slow, which may irk some of the viewers who want to get into it. However, this movie had one of the best and unpredictable endings in a thriller I've ever seen. This alone made the movie worth it. I thought the young actors, notably Reese Witherspoon, were admirable in their roles. There was not really any bad acting in this movie. The script was well founded, and I thought that this was an original and creative idea. Many of the twists of the movie are explained through characters actions rather than overt telling of plot sequences. This is a movie that starts a bit of a ways in, then retraces its steps, and then continues on through the movie. If you are a moviegoer that enjoys twists and unpredictable endings, then I think this is the movie to watch.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Fabulous Style, But Not Much Underneath, November 25, 2000
I thought this movie would be a great thriller. I've seen Reese Witherspoon in enough movies to know she's a great actress, and it sounded interesting enough from reading the jacket. BUT, I have to say that, overall, although the film was visually stunning more often than not (very stylized sets, nice color combinations, costume colors, interesting shots, etc, etc), and the two main characters Nick (Alessandro Nivola) and Lissa (Reese Witherspoon) were likable, the film isn't much to write home about. My main complaint is that there wasn't enough plot to go around, and that when the chips finally fall, you're wondering why there weren't more of them! I also wonder why the writer (or director/editor), who ended up with a decent budget, nice sets, great actors, etc, didn't do more to flesh it out, or add a couple more twists/characters/background info. I think this quite easily could have been made into a great film. However, as it stands, its a stylish jaunt into film-making which, although not precisely shallow, per se, leaves a lot to be desired. Interestingly, after watching the deleted scenes and learning a bit more about the script and the changes that were made to the story/scenes, the film seemed richer and more complex, (better!) than I'd first thought. I think the DVD's deleted scenes really would have added enough to make this luke-warm film, not great, but maybe "good enough." The best thematic elements which explain the "why's" and "why-nots" of this film, inexplicably seemed to end up on the cutting room floor. Bottom Line: "Watch it before you buy it."
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