Method

Jeremy Sisto and Elizabeth Hurley very earnestly work hard to make this shockingly bad film decent, but they simply can't. It is a maudlin mess of poorly written and directed dreck from Duncan Roy. Plot summary already attached to this film's IMDb posting, I will dispense with much of the redundant plot summary, but when Hurley barks out of the shack door to drifter Sisto's character "Hey, can you mend a fey-ance?" (it is turn of the century Indiana after all, so expect heavy accents), I knew this thing was heading down state in a durn hurry. Perhaps five minutes later, gentleman callers are arranged by mail to come see the impossibly beautiful Hurley to arrange marriage. With heavy brows does our fence fixer Sisto disapprove of Hurley's mail order suitors, referred to as her brother. Do we even need to delve into the budding melodrama of this period piece? Wait! O dreaded gimmicks, worse than a triptych, first person narrative, or chapter supertitles, we are fed a steaming dish of a film within a film. My word, I don't think this kind of thing has ever been done before! Oh wait, well, you know. The only interesting things about Method are Hurley's beauty, Sisto's effort, and the infamous off screen battles between the insane director Duncan Roy and Liz Hurley. The final product, though, stinks to high heaven.

For some reason this came up as a horror, I assure you it isn't.

It tells the story of an actress returning to the spotlight for a new movie. She decides to live on set and really become the character, trouble is she takes it a tad far and before you know it events in the movie and events in real life start to merge.

Starring the underrated Jeremy Sisto, the overrated Liz Hurley, British favorite John Barrowman and Heavy Rain (2010) star Sam Douglas it's not the cast that fails it.

Though I appreciate what they were going for it simply doesn't work, at all. It's a messy poorly constructed not so thrilling thriller.

Liz Hurley isn't a leading lady, she's a bit part character. One of those actresses who is pretty and looks the part on camera but doesn't have the acting chops and needs that weakness disguised with minimal lines.

Badly written mess, simple as that.

The Good:

Interesting concept

Sam Douglas

The Bad:

Bad delivery

Hurley isn't up to a lead role

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Sam Douglas needs more high profile jobs!

Rebecca Fairbanks (Hurley) is finally returning to the silver screen, after a three year absence, in the role of serial murderess Belle Gunnes. Fairbanks is acting alongside her old flame, movie star hunk Jake Fields (Sisto). In order to totally immerse herself in the role and get the best performance she feels she can give, Fairbanks resides on set trying to live the life of Belle Gunnes. However, all becomes tragic when people begin to turn up dead and Jake is arrested as a suspect.

Method (or Dead Even as is titled on the UK DVD) is a very good thriller and is, at times, quite unnerving. The film Method features scenes from the film 'Belle' that Fairbanks and Fields are starring in. As such you get 'real action' mixed with the action for the pretend film. Iy has been said in at least one comment that it is hard to tell what is the 'real action' and what is the fake film action. I would have to disagree with this as I thought it was perfectly clear, but maybe I'm just more preceptive than some other people. The acting in this film is very, very good with the stand-out performance coming from Jeremy Sisto, brilliant actor. Elizabeth Hurley looks very good in this film, as does Jake Field's wife Bethany (Hannah Yelland). I feel sorry for Fields having to choose between these two, it's a tough call. Olivia du Sautoy is very good as Mona, the mother of actress Fairbanks, who controls her life and seems very over-protective of her daughter. I watched this last night for the first time and am left feeling the longing to watch it again tonight which is a sign of how much I liked this film. It really is a great thriller. 8/10

Cat Squire

Here we have two movies for the price of one. Unfortunately one movie plus one other movie does not make even one good movie. Method is the story of a beautiful actress in the come-back role of a lifetime. So, Rebecca (the beautiful actress) portrays a serial killer in a supposedly true tale of Belle (the beautiful serial killer.) A major portion of Method is the movie Belle. Herein lies the problem--the movie in the movie is actually more interesting than the movie we are paying to see.

We are to believe that Rebecca(Elizabeth Hurley) is so mentally unstable that, spurred by her overbearing mother's interference, begins to associate completely with the murderous Belle, finally assuming her character. (Hence: "Method"). There is a predictable ending to "Belle", and a surprise ending to "Method", which is also predictable.

Two stars out of ten for "Belle", one star for "Method". An extra star for Elizabeth Hurley(sorry about the bias, I just think she's beautiful). Total = 4 stars out of 10.

Pretend you are walking up the steps with a few tokens in your hand to play Plinko on "The Price Is Right". You line up token number one, release it and it zigzags down and lands into $0. That is the feeling you get after watching this movie. The story revolves around a famous actress who is back in the limelight and trying to disprove rumors she is more than just a pretty face but can actually act. The movie plays out with the story line moving between the movie being made and the characters involved in that movie production. The movie title Method refers to the type of acting where the actor/actress immerses themselves into a role. This female character plays a 19th century killer thus that mindset plays into the actress in reality. You can guess where things may end up heading. The story is rather muddled, characters are unlikable and unsympathetic and overall, this is not interesting or even visually intriguing. Simply put: avoid.