The film itself is gorgeous to look at, although the camera work is a bit shaky, and there are like... hundreds of meaningless close-ups that can drive you totally crazy. And guess what, Meg Ryan DOES take her top off (if you're interested in that sort of thing). But this movie is also very violent and brutal; I heard it almost got an NC-17 rating (our censors cut out a seven-minute chunk of footage with most shocking sex and violence and rated the film R).

Basically, the story is about a somewhat attractive English teacher named Franny (played by Ryan), who suddenly finds herself in the middle of a police investigation when a girl is found murdered near her house. The lead detective working on the case meets and talks to her, and she's instantly attracted. Then, to make things even more complicated (as if the sexually unruly relationship between her and the police officer wasn't enough), Franny remembers that she saw the dead girl somewhere before.

The story is quite interesting, though the ending is fairly simple and predictable. I'd recommend this movie to anyone who loves "romantic thrillers," but don't expect much from it. The acting is excellent (especially Ryan's), the cinematography is beautiful, the music is good, and the plot won't make you wanna yawn, and that's the important thing.

Frannie Avery, superbly acted by Meg Ryan, is an attractive 35 year-old divorcee who lives in a two room apartment on Washington Square. She teaches creative writing at NYU to a group of inner-city teens. She is also a connoisseur and scholar of language and is writing a book on street slang and its derivatives. Frannie takes chances. She is a sexual risk taker. However, she lives in her own private world where she spends an incredible amount of time pondering the nature of language, which leaves her vulnerable to her surroundings...and reality. Frannie is not at all street savvy. And her nearsightedness allows her to disengage even more from the potentially dangerous world in which she lives. One late afternoon, in a neighborhood bar, she makes a trip to the ladies room and inadvertently walks-in on a couple engaged in an intimate act. The man's face is obscured by shadow but she does notice that he has a unique tattoo on the inside of his wrist. A few days later a NYC homicide detective, James E. Malloy (Mark Ruffalo), seeks Frannie out for an interview. There has been a brutal murder in the neighborhood. The victim is the woman Frannie saw performing the sex act in the bar. The evening Frannie saw her was her last.

Malloy takes risks also. He totally defies all rules about relationships between a detective and potential witness and acts on the tremendous sexual attraction between Frannie and himself. Malloy epitomizes the "tough guy with a badge," his frank blunt language adding to Frannie's turn-on. From the first, however, she knew that Malloy had a tattoo on his wrist - a tattoo she had seen once before.

Jennifer Jason Leigh plays Pauline, Frannie's spacey, obsessive half-sister and the person Frannie is closest to and loves. She lives above a topless bar in downtown Manhattan and the affection both women feel for the erotic dancers, the entire ambiance of the club and its proximity to their lives, reestablishes the sense of careless oblivion to danger. Together the two ponder the ups and downs of being female, discuss sexuality and romance and their father's many foibles.

Kevin Bacon is Frannie's off-the-wall ex-boyfriend who stalks her and maintains a threatening presence throughout. And Sharrieff Pugh is excellent as one of Frannie's brightest students who is fixated upon John Wayne Gacy.

Jane Campion, an extraordinary director, has not given us a typical mystery thriller about a vicious serial killer. "In The Cut" is more an exploration of the sexuality and inner life of an intelligent, creative, emotionally starved women approaching middle age. Detective Mallory's aggressive masculinity and the threat of the physical danger which surrounds her jar Frannie awake. The films portrays an urban environment of muted violence just waiting to explode and the colors and sounds of Campion's New York add to the building tension. There are some superbly staged sequences which give a hallucinatory, almost nightmarish quality to the scenes. The intense and honest performances really compensate for the movie's flaws. I found myself totally absorbed. Recommended - but be warned, this is not a movie for the sqeamish or faint of heart!
JANA

Second, there is not one likeable character in this film. Ryan's character is cold and obnoxious. Ruffalo's character, along with his partner, is a slimy, stereotypical, crude police officer, right down to the mustache. The relationship between these two is so lacking in chemistry or believability it is funny.

Third, Ryan's performance is trash. Just because it is different for her, doesn't mean it's good. A mannequin could have played this role with equal effectiveness.

Fourth, Jane Campion's directing abilities are highly overrated. If a "nobody" would have wanted to make this film, they wouldn't have gotten the chance. Campion's attempts to add a feminist undercurrent to everything is hackneyed and ineffective. This film is not only an insult to women and feminist ideaology, it is an insult to humanity. Anyone who tries to intellectualize this film is wasting their time. It's garbage-- plain and simple.

Believe me, I could go on, but I have wasted enough time on this movie.