Method

I am very interested in the Belle Gunness story , and I had great hopes for this movie before reading the reviews here. I hope its not as bad as I hear. I'll be back to give my opinion. I would like to see some really well investigated movie made on Belles life. I would like questions answered that apparently aren't in this film. Although it is bound to be enjoyable if taken at face value, I got interested in it because it was supposed to be about Belle and the murders at LaPorte.. when I went to look to view it , I find its called something else other than Method and is only loosely related to Bele Gunness after all. Shame . Its called Dead Even outside of the USA. .

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.

The expression "method" was coined by the acting teacher Lee Strasberg to describe his unique interpretation of the acting techniques of the Russian director Constantin Stanislavsky. In the 1950s, Strasberg was the guru of the famed Actors Studio of New York where many great film actors honed their craft with the master. Strasberg's authoritarian style was legendary as he watched the actors perform scenes and monologues and then proceeded to psychoanalyze the actors and their choices.

Mr. Strasberg would be truly appalled by the trite and cliché-ridden "Method." The film seeks to weave two stories in a "play-within-a-play" style. Unfortunately, neither one of the stories is interesting, and the main problem is the script. Much of the dialogue was laughable. Also, the production values of this film seemed amateurish with special effects and scenes of violence that were not credible. Sadly, the good premise of a story about an actress who loses touch with reality and "becomes the character" was not realized, despite the good efforts of the cast.

The classic film "A Double Life" (1947) was successful in developing this premise as the actor playing Othello is so enmeshed within his character that he commits a real-life murder. The screenwriters for "A Double Life" were the brilliant team of Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon, from whom the writers of "Method" could have learned a lesson worthy of the great teacher Lee Strasberg.

**SPOILERS** Brain-numbing film that's a movie within a movie with a number of confusing dream sequences added on as well.

Beautiful but unstable motion picture actress Rebecca Fairbanks, Elizabeth Hurley,had been off the silver and big screen for three years. Rebecca is now attempting to make her big comeback in the movie role as turn of the century serial murderess Belle Gunness "known as the Black Widow of the the America Heartland" who killed 42 people in he early 1900's.

Determined to make her comeback in the movies a smashing success Rebecca trying to get into the role, using method acting techniques, lives on the set where the film's being made in off all places Romania! the home of serial blood-sucker Darcula. Later she even becomes a murderous fanatic to get the "feel" and "state of mind" of what Belle Gunness was in at the time she murdered her victims.

Pushed by her stage mother Mona, Carmen Du Sautoy, and having her co-star movie leading man and heart-throb Jake Fields,Jeremy Sisto,who had an affair with Rebecca three years ago that lead to her getting pregnant having an abortion. Jacks affair almost had him lose his wife Bethany, Hanna Yellard, because of it putting her, Rebecca, into such a deep depression over the whole mess that she hadn't made a movie since. Jake promising his wife Bethany who's there to make sure that he keeps he feeling, as well as pants on, for Rebecca in check and that he's only in love with her and no-one else. Bethany also wants to make sure that the hot and heavy work Jack's doing in his love scenes with Rebecca on the set are strictly professional and nothing more, ha ha ha.

On the set Rebecca is more then in her role as the psycho-killer Belle Gunness by overdoing some of the murder scenes that's she's, using axes and knives, in. Rebecca's method acting techniques cause a number of actors in them with her to get medical treatment. There's also a number of people in and around the movie set that end up getting brutally murdered including both Rebbeca's mom and Jake's wife. Rebecca early in the movie drives out to a nearby town and picks up the local bar/saloon stud who also ends up dead with his throat slashed, was this her way of perfecting her acting as a serial murderess?

With the exception of one of the actors in the movie, who Rebbeca smashed his head in with her new found method-acting skills, we don't know for sure if she's really responsible for all the murders off the set. Even when the movie is over her involvement in them is still up in the air and unexplained to the audience by the director and writer of the movie "Method".

We also see the ghost of the real Belle Gunness, Loana Prvelescu, pop up every now and then in the movie giving Rebecca tips and advice in killing off her cast members in the film. "Method" looks as if it wasn't finished and just slapped together to get it released as if it's some kind of abstract art-film that only those who are really "hip" and "with it" could understand what it's all about.

Even the scenes in the movie that Rebecca is staring in come across more convincing and realistic, then those that are supposed to be not before the camera, with Rebbecca and Jake having their affair rekindled after three years.In fact the love scenes that take place in the movie with Rebecca and Jake, playing their roles of Belle and her lover Ray, are far more hotter and convincing then the ones where their in bed and getting it on as Rebecca and Jake.

The movie ends with a really out-of-this-world dream sequence that gives you the impression that Rebecca either kills herself or Jake or both with the encouragement of the ghost of the evil Belle Gunness. It's then that it switches to Rebecca playing Belle as if that scene was put in by mistake with the film editors not knowing that she was either dead or imprisoned for what happened in the previous scene!

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.