Good film, glad to have seen it. Wish there were more adult films as I'm tired of sifting through what appeals to 14 year old males. I wasn't shocked by the sex scenes and can think of a few R-rated films that contained scenes which made me more uncomfortable. There is a lot of sex in the film, it's not framed in shoulders-up shots, but it's not wall-to-wall. There is a good story that goes along with it. I wouldn't call it erotic, this is a story about sex as a way to manipulate people and sex because you can. It is graphically honest. I didn't feel it overwhelmed the plot or took you out of the story. If you're looking for a souped up version of Body Heat though, you'll probably be disappointed.
So I start with a 10 for interesting story and great performances from Firth and Bacon. Bacon clearly has the showier role, and the script mostly revolves around Lanny and how people relate to him. He commits himself to it totally and gives you a revealing performance of this "out there" character, warts and all. You see Lanny for what he is, both the public and private persona. It is a pitch perfect performance. Colin Firth handles the more complex character of Vince with his usual ability to reveal everything and nothing at the same time. His character is more veiled and enigmatic, not so clearly scripted (which works in the movie) and leaves you with questions as much as answers by the film's end. He delivers it with truthfulness and without gimmickry or sleight of hand. One of the thing's I've always liked about him as an actor is once you've seen a movie and know the ending, you can re-watch it and see an even more layered performance than you first realized because his character was fully there from scene one. The mystery, though not what I'd call suspenseful, did serve as a useful and involving vehicle in an interesting character drama. Then I start to subtract.
The film started off a little slow and it took me a while to establish an interest in what really happened to the dead girl, beyond what I'd picked up from the trailer. And Alison Lohman was just bad, I couldn't buy into her character at all. She was supposed to be the engine that drives to the solution of the murder and why these guys broke up, pushing them to reveal secrets they've held onto for 15 years. Not only did she need to be tougher and much smarter and more driven, her acting was way off the mark. Her lines in a scene might read "I'm a tough cookie" but there was nothing in her performance that supported it, before, after or during the scene. She was supposed to be someone who you'd pay a million dollars to for a hard-hitting expose because you believed she could get at the truth. Instead she comes across as the girl from Kansas who just fell off the turnip truck looking for a big break. She's out of her depth, exacerbated by being blown off the screen by her co-stars. I never believed she could stand up to Vince the way she has to in order to make the plot evolve, or hold Lanny's interest as a sexual liaison or an adversary. She added nothing and I think reduced the impact of the mystery's resolution.(Though I agree with an earlier review that Rachel Blanchard was a surprise as the girl killed in the hotel room. She was good.)
My last nit..the music was often wrong. I'm not usually so aware of the music in a film, but in this one it was distracting at times, way over the top.
So this is a film that "coulda been a contender" along the lines of LA Confidential. Close but no cigar. If this were meant to be a break out film of sorts for Egoyan, I don't think he completely managed it. I do think it is worth the price of admission though, and is better than most of the films I've seen this year. I don't mean to undersell the film and its strengths make up for the weaknesses. So if character dramas are your thing, see it for an interesting dynamic and two stand-out performances in an involving plot. See it with friends who love thought provoking movies, probably not right as first date fare.
