I know it's supposed to be great but I can't physically bring myself to insert the DVD into the DVD player. Clooney looks so damn sullen in every picture and the movie description is filled with mind-numbing phrases like "burned out corporate lawyer", "guilt ridden colleague", "settlement" and "biggest challenge ever". I mean, sheesh. I've been waiting to hear JPX's opinion but I just learned that he's been patiently waiting for me to see it first.
Incidentally, I met Clooney during the filming of this in New York. Handsome Stan worked on this one and snuck me into the building they were shooting it. Ok, I didn't actually meet him but I watched them shoot a boring scene of him walking out of an elevator for about 60 takes. I did make eye contact as he was leaving and I gave him a solemn head nod of approval. That counts, right?
8 comments:
I haven't seen it either, for those very same reasons...
Someone has to sacrifice themselves and let the rest of us know. I choose GoBaers!
The wife and I saw it a few weeks ago when it showed up at the $2 theater. I'd been similarly unmotivated--seemed like yet another Civil Action/Erin Brockovich hodgepodge.
Well, it's another Civil Action/Erin Brockovich hodgepodge alright. Probably better than most in that genre--smarter and slightly more unorthodox structurally. It's worth seeing for Tom Wilkinson and Tilda Swinton in any case.
A 3 generation family of (what's the delicate word for "retards" these days) _______ sat behind us and talked through the whole movie. And they clearly had NO idea what was going on. So that both kind of ruined the experience and made it into something even more fun.
Hmmmm, Landshark, your review states exactly what I suspected about this film; good, but meh. I think I'll pass and let JSP deal with it. Thanks for the head's up!
Okay, in the five minutes I have before I go to bed, I've GOT to jump in here.
The most important reason to see this movie is to watch my name scroll up in the credits 10 minutes after the movie ends (look for "2nd 2nd Assistant Director"). Beyond that, my opinion does skew towards what Landshark had to say.
When I first read the script during prep waaaay back in 2006, I was struck by one thought: Why is ANYONE going to care about this random fix-it guy for a random law firm who is framed up to be killed by an equally unredeeming OTHER corporate yahoo from ANOTHER law firm/corporation? To me, it did reek of Civil Action-esque (which I also worked on) self-importance. There's no redeeming quality to any character, which seems to be what critics found so wonderful.
The thing is, Clooney can sit and read the phone book, and if he does it in that From Dusk Til Dawn "I am speaking LOUDLY and STRONGLY and I AM TOTALLY COOL" voice, then everyone just eats it up. ("Aaron AARONSON, (212) 555-1212," etc)
So the moments he has with Tom Wilkinson (the manic-depressive lawyer) and the final confrontation with Tilda Swinton are great for those reasons, and overall, it's a very watchable corporate-lawyer drama-intrigue thingy.
I'm still left wondering, after all was said and done, about how ridiculously warm the critical reception was. It either speaks to how dismal the rest of current cinema is, or the Academy yahoos trying to find something to jump on to round out the Big 5 nominees for the year. It was well-written, and Clooney does his thing, but...eh?
It was the USA Today review that started gushing about "We haven't seen movies like this since the 70s" and "a refreshing mix of intelligent drama and suspense," etc. Ummm...I guessssss soooo....
I'm currently working with the same director on his 2nd movie effort, a film called "Duplicity" starring Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson. The script is extraordinarily well-written and also completely confusing. Get ready, in maybe a year's time, to be similarly ambivalent about two more hours of corporate intrigue, backstabbing, double-crossing, and deception. I can already hear the Voice-Over Guy: "From the director of Michael Clayton..." (Giamatti is fucking awesome, though.)
And today we shot a scene with Julia and Clive in a hotel room, and we used a body double for Julia, who basically ran around the set naked for an hour. That was kind of cool.
Hope I don't get sued for any of that.
was clive lightly attired as well?
I don't think "Handsome Stan" can get sued.
Eye contact/head nod is a fine way to go. Unless I'm introduced, bugging celebs is a no-go, in my opinion.
I'm equally delighted with "Civil Action/Erin Brockovich hodgepodge" and "corporate-lawyer drama-intrigue thingy." I haven't seen Clayton or Brockovich but I thought Civil Action was lame-ass. The message of Good Works vs. Wealth struck the viewer like a bushel sack of clams upside the head.
Update: Running Freak and I aborted after 36 minutes and never looked back. A scene with him bursting into a room full of old men shouting "Let's look at the files!" sealed the deal. At that point we looked at each other, shrugged and sent Michael on his way.
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