I am not a fan of the TV show "Friends", but I have been impressed with some of the work the cast members have done outside of the show (David Schwimmer's performance in BAND OF BROTHERS, for one). Courteney Cox is nothing short of excellent here, and there are good performances from other cast members, especially Anne Archer, who I've liked ever since I saw her with James Coburn in 1972's rodeo picture, THE HONKERS. Nora Dunn also turns in a good performance, and if all the leads were as strong, my overall impression of "NOVEMBER" would be different.
But the casting of James LaGros in a major role here doesn't work at all. I don't know if it was the inexperienced director or a bad fit for the role (certainly LaGros has plenty of experience himself), but he's hard to watch, especially when sharing a scene with Cox, who acts circles around his one dimensional performance. This dynamic was so distracting that it pulled me out of the story for a moment whenever he was on screen.
Fortunately he's not on all the time, for November is almost completely from Cox's character's perspective. It's perhaps a study in perception more than anything else, a modern suspense thriller that really isn't a who-dun-it as much as a painful reconstruction of events. Because the film doesn't cheat and cut to someone else's perspective just to answer the viewers' questions (a courageous and applaudable choice for the filmmakers), there are questions that remain unanswered for a majority of the picture. When the time came to give answers, I didn't always feel there was enough information to do so properly, but that's a minor issue. These weren't the "drive you crazy" plot points, but smaller things I thought should have been clear by the film's end.
Aside from these problems, I never felt the film drag (as is often the case in lower budget pictures), so the few story problems did not occur in the editing room as far as I can tell. The short running time reflects this, and these filmmakers understand that one shouldn't be so inclined to make epic length pictures unless it's absolutely critical to the story (a point the major studios seem to forget quite often). If I have issue at all with the run time here, it's the snail pace at which the end credits roll (I guess they were making sure we could read it all). Regardless, the major questions that create suspense were nicely revealed; the time flew by watching the film unravel, and there was certainly a "payoff" for me by the end.
A better directed and/or cast actor opposite Courteney Cox would've boosted my rating on this film a couple of stars. I suppose that's why the big time casting directors get the big bucks; the leads can make a film. But a miscast actor, as in "NOVEMBER", almost broke this otherwise enjoyable movie. 6 out of 10.
