Movie Review - 'Chloe'

Chloe Starring Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson, and Amanda Seyfried Directed by Atom Egoyan Rated R

Q: What do you call an erotic thriller that skimps on eroticism and thrills? A: Chloe A film squarely out of its time with a couple actors clearly out of their element, Chloe was better as one of Zalman King's Red Shoe Diaries skin flicks that used to run on late night cable. It's a lot of talent to waste, along with the expectation that it all might amount to something, but essentially, that's the verdict. How is it that Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore wound up here, in a movie that looks and acts like some lightweight reaction to Fatal Attraction? It probably has something to do with working with director Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter) coupled with the fact that the film on which this is based, the French movie Nathalie..., has style and sensuality to burn. Sadly, that's not the case with this mostly sanitized version of the story. As for the story, it was never really that good; Nathalie... just gave it a lift in other ways. Catherine (Moore) is convinced her husband David (Neeson) is having an affair. He missed his own birthday party to stay in New York, which certainly gives the wife plenty of reason to fashion a scenario about infidelity, real or not. The trouble is, David is one of those guys who, well, looks a helluva lot like Liam Neeson. He can throw on the charm quicker than a t-shirt and he's been known to flirt with just about everybody. Catherine concocts a scheme to go along with the scenario in her mind. She hires a prostitute - err...excuse me, an escort - to seduce David and confirm her suspicions. From the window of her gorgeously appointed medical office, Catherine has often spied a pretty blonde walking into and out of the hotel next door. Through a chance encounter, she learns that Chloe (Amanda Seyfried) is available for hire, although this isn't really the sort of job she normally accepts. Chloe and David meet in a coffee shop one afternoon - another chance encounter - and thereafter, Catherine relies on the professional sex worker for all the details. And they're more graphic than anything you actually see between them. Moore spends much of her time on screen at extremes. She's very rarely on any kind of solid ground. Most of that is written, but her performance still begs for a sandbag here or there to make Catherine seem real. The movie's from her point of view, so clearly we have to be on her team, and I'm not sure that's the case throughout. Neeson, for what it's worth, isn't much better. But that's more for a lack of material than anything else. The story of the movie, at least in spring 2010, is Amanda Seyfried. Since Mamma Mia!, you could see more movies in her future. Dear John was a surprise hit, she's getting magazine covers and more coveted roles now, and this is a big chance to show what she can do in a heavyweight drama with great co-stars and an esteemed international filmmaker. She isn't that good, either, so maybe you're starting to sense a trend developing. The script just lets everybody down. Egoyan has made a pretty movie in a purely physical sense. The interiors and exteriors are great, his camera aches for Seyfried, appropriate given the nature of the film, and he has cast his film very well. If only that was all there was to it. Erin Cressida Wilson adapted the screenplay, and very often, it's worth noting a good film adaptation and letting a bad or mediocre one slide. Again, she's trying to recapture what was not a venerated screenplay to begin with from a film that only succeeded because of the way its sexual overtones (or undertones) were handled. Even still, this is not a rewarding script in any way; the characters are flash cards of real people, the emotions change like the weather, and the conclusion of Chloe probably won't satisfy many. As I watched the film, seeing wasted opportunities fall from the sky, I wondered what an Adrian Lyne or Bernardo Bertolucci could have done with the same material. More, that I'm sure of.

Comments

[Betty - Wholesale Purses]

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