Tuesday, February 05, 2013

Side Effects in 200 Words or Less

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I'm not sure how to review Side Effects without spoiling it, although I must say am sort of on the borderline of not caring whether I spoil it or not because I wasn't all that crazy about it, unfortunately - you've heard me say a lot lately that I've been completely enamored with Steven Soderbergh's winning streak the past few years? Well I kinda feel he broke his streak with this one. Oh there's stuff that works to be sure (everybody's good in it, for one), but it's a thriller so self-medicated you're jonesing for some good old fashioned boiling rabbit histrionics that never much materialize. I guess that was his hook - just how far could he sand off the edges of this type of material to give us the Fatal Attraction our Xanax'd Age apparently deserves... everybody always says that Soderbergh's movies feel like experiments, but this the first time I've really felt that, more than an engagement with the material proper. He gooses things a bit with a late twist that's silly and totally gratuitous, but it's a little too little too late.
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1 comment:

Dan O. said...

This is all we've come to expect from Soderbergh: A damn good time at the movies. Thank heavens for that. Good review JA.