Doing The Nasty: A Review Of "Closer"

For all of the talent, both in front of, and behind the camera, I was surprised at how "unreal" Closer turned out to be. Considering all of its buzz and attention from Oscar, I was expecting something more than I ended up getting.

Set in London, Closer follows Alice (Natalie Portman), an American expatriate and sometime stripper and her relationship with Dan (Jude Law), an obituary writer and budding novelist. The two meet after she sustains minor injuries after being hit by a car. Things are going great for the lovers until Dan meets Anna (Julia Roberts), an American photographer and is soon infatuated with her. Even as Anna gets involved with Larry (Clive Owen), the doctor. There are plenty of flirtations infidelities, and struggles for power among this foursome.

Adapted for the big screen by Patrick Marber, from his own stage play, and directed by Mike Nichols (The Birdcage, the TV miniseries "Angels in America") , all four of these folks are so nasty to one another that some events can seem just too unreal at times. I'm not a romantic by any means but I find it hard to believe none of these folks have any redeeming qualities. I know bad people exist in the world but this takes the cake. The only way this would work, in my view, is if this were a dark comedy. Nothing skews that way though. And as a relationship drama since there's no one to root for or sympathize with, why should I care...and thanks to a poorly scripted last half hour the ending gets loses its punch...As for the performances: Law is just playing the variation on every cad he's ever played (both in real life and on film), Roberts is kinda just there but not really. If anyone shines here at all, it's Portman and Owen. Portman has developed into quite the actress (the Star Wars prequels notwithstanding) while Owen brings it up a notch for the others.

As part of Sony's "Superbit" line of DVDs, almost all of the disc's capacity is used to ensure high quality video and audio. The picture presentation is flawless but this comes at the expense of having a DVD without much bonus material. The only extra on the disc is the five-minute video for "The Blower's Daughter" by Damien Rice, from the soundtrack and is heard twice during the film.

Closer is watchable, despite its problems, but I certainly was disappointed by it--considering its potential for greatness.